Letter: Show your thanks and gratitude to all of our armed forces veterans by supporting this year's Royal British Legion poppy appeal

This year I recorded my message at the memorial garden in Randalstown where earlier in the year a memorial was unveiled to remember the men and women who served the community as members of the 9th Battalion of the Ulster Defence Regiment.

This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the Greenfinches, the female members of the Ulster Defence Regiment, and I am pleased that this significant milestone has been marked in a number of different ways throughout the year.

I pay tribute to the men and women who served in the Home Service Regiments and those who continue to serve in our armed forces throughout the world, ever remembering those brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in serving our country. Society owes deep thanks and gratitude to all of our armed forces veterans and their service should never be rewritten as anything other than duty in the protection of society against the evils of terrorism and oppression.

While we must remember those who have gone, we must also look after those who are left behind. For that reason, I would ask you to support this year's Royal British Legion poppy appeal. Never before has your donations meant so much to so many, in providing the much-needed support and care of our veterans and their families.

The poppy appeal has aided the care of not just our veterans, but also the widows and families of those who have lost loved ones whilst protecting our society. At this time of year, we continue the tradition started by previous generations to remember and reflect on the sacrifice made by so many, in conflicts past, that allows us to enjoy the freedoms we have today.

I would please ask you to give as generously as you can to this year’s poppy appeal.

We Will Remember Them.

Danny Kinahan, NI veterans commissioner

​