‘Thoughts are always with those still serving’

A blind veteran says he was “filled with pride” to lead a contingent for a Remembrance Sunday parade.

John Hardy, from Bridgwater in Somerset, was asked to lead the Blind Veterans UK contingent at the Remembrance parade in London.

The 69-year-old, who served in the Gulf War with the Royal Army Medical Corps, also laid a wreath at the Cenotaph for his town’s Armed Veterans Breakfast Club.

“Your thoughts are always there with those serving now. They, like we did, are doing their duty for their country for what they think is right,” he said.

Mr Hardy was joined at the parade by fellow blind veteran Kelly Ganfield, from Wiltshire.

Leading the parade filled him with “a mix of reflection and pride” he said, but he admitted that his experience of conflict had never left him.

He said: “When you’re being bombed in Riyadh or in Belfast, you have a job to do, but you don’t become hardened to it because there are people who suffer.

“All these things you think about on Remembrance Sunday, particularly those who have passed.”

Blind Veterans UK has supported ex-servicemen and women like Mr Hardy since 1915.

Mr Hardy said his involvement in helping veterans started because of a promise he made to his late mother, who also served in the military.

“She left a bit money behind and wanted to do something for the community but it had to involve nursing.

“So I suggested setting up a Dementia Action Alliance in Bridgwater, she liked that and so we did, and that was 10 years ago.”

Since then, Mr Hardy has also set up the Bridgwater Community Hub and worked with several organisations.

He was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for his community work after being nominated by Blind Veterans UK.