Remember Our Heroes appeal
Blind veterans need your support. Please remember our heroes.
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Please show blind veterans that their service to our country has not been forgotten.
Every one of our blind veterans has a story to tell about their time with the Armed Forces that they will never forget. The Remember Our Heroes appeal is to show them that we remember too.
When you donate to this appeal, you could help a blind veteran to feel that they have purpose again, that there is life after sight loss. Your generosity could provide specialist equipment, or social and emotional support. You could help veterans like Bill and Wally know they are respected - and not forgotten.
Bill was just 18 when he landed in France in 1944.
It was four days after the Normandy landings began. Now 97, blind veteran Bill remembers the battle ships firing over his head and the dead soldiers, lying all around him. He says, “It’s so important to remember that thousands of people died that day, so that we can be free now”.
Bill will never forget the terrifying days he and his brothers in arms spent fighting for his country and is grateful when other people acknowledge their service and sacrifice.
“There’s even a Blind Veterans UK group called the ‘Not Forgotten’! Well, the charity doesn’t forget me! And that’s brilliant – I’m so happy to be a part of it! They’ve been great friends to me”.
Bill is very relieved he has been able to carry on painting.
Bill is a very popular and prolific member of the Blind Veterans UK National Creative Project.
Despite suffering from macular degeneration in both eyes, he manages to paint beautiful artwork, like the stunning landscape below, called Winter Sunset. He receives equipment, guidance and encouragement from the arts and crafts team.
He says, "I paint and I garden, and I’ve made friends that I talk to every month. The charity has opened so many doors and it’s wonderful!”
"It’s so helpful, it’s given me a purpose"
Blind veteran
Will you help change the lives of veterans like Bill?
Blind veteran Wally lost many, many comrades.
He remembers them all.
Wally will soon be turning 100 but he will never forget his time in the Second World War. He describes his time fighting in Italy as “horrific... it was truly hell on earth”.
Years later, Wally was diagnosed with macular degeneration. He had already lost his wife; suddenly, he could no longer drive and felt extremely isolated. But since visiting the Blind Veterans UK Centres of Wellbeing, Wally has been shown different ways to stay independent. He loves his hand-held magnifier as he can now read his private post and other items around his home.
Wally says, “Blind Veterans UK has helped me be independent at home and I couldn’t have done it without them!”
“If I hadn’t heard of Blind Veterans UK, I’d be sitting here twiddling my thumbs. It’s been everything to me. It’s a new life.”
Blind veteran
Will you help change the lives of veterans like Wally?
Read the poem
With poppies in the field and flags half mast
We remember our heroes that sadly have passed
For our country's defence, their lives they'd sacrifice
For our freedom, they paid the ultimate price.
Now row upon row of pure white stone
Mark the resting places where our heroes have gone
And once a year we remember the sacrifice
Of our heroes who paid the ultimate price.
Pass on to your children and grandchildren too
The memory of our heroes who died for you.
Lest we forget the price that they paid
Visit the graves where their bodies are laid.
The names of a father, son or brother
Missed by their siblings, father and mother
Many of them were still young boys
Who played soldier games with guns that were toys.
When the service is over and poppies have been laid
And the tributes to them have all been made
The bugle will sound and play the Last Post
Lest the memories of our heroes become a ghost.
With poppies in the field and flags half mast
We remember our heroes that sadly have passed
For our country's defence, their lives they'd sacrifice
For our freedom, they paid the ultimate price.
Wally wants other blind veterans to feel independent again – and to feel remembered. With your support, more ex-Servicemen and women can receive the help they need to rebuild their lives after sight loss.
Thank you for supporting - and remembering - our heroes.
Donate now
Your help today will provide the rehabilitation, equipment and respite that blind veterans so desperately need. Not just remembering our heroes but supporting them, too.
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As Patron of this charity from 1952 to 2016, the Queen will always hold a special place in our hearts.
Our raffle and lottery
Have some fun, help blind veterans and be in with a chance to win some cash by playing our raffle and lottery.
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