It's time to back our troops (From Western Telegraph)

It's time to back our troops

Over the last few weeks, families in Pembrokeshire have been saying goodbye to loved ones as they head for the Gulf and war with Iraq.

Other servicemen and women, as well as reservists, are waiting on tenterhooks for their call up to the war zone. While the majority of Pembrokeshire people were opposed to the Iraq war and many demonstrated and campaigned against it, we must now give our full backing to the men and women who are on the front line.

During the last Gulf War in 1991, the Western Telegraph played an important supportive role for the families.

We ran stories about the Army, Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and civilian personnel involved in the conflict. We also featured the Pembrokeshire Support Group and its work, and the Red Cross and its fundraising efforts for refugees and war victims,

This time we are again inviting readers with relatives serving in the Gulf zone to send in details and pictures of their loved ones, and also messages for them, for inclusion in the Western Telegraph. The messages will also be posted on our website at www.thisispembrokeshire.net

Items may be sent to or left at our offices at Press Buildings, Old Hakin Road, Merlins Bridge, Haverfordwest, SA61 1XF, or 14 Meyrick Street, Pembroke Dock. They can also be e-mailed to wtel_newsdesk@gwent-wales.co.uk, with photographs as jpeg attachments.

o Letters from home are certainly a morale boost for the troops in the Gulf. One soldier looking for penpals is Simon Morgan-Jones, aged 25, of the Medical Corps RAMC.

Simon, the son of Shirley and Ricky Morgan-Jones, is in Kuwait. "He and the other soldiers desperately want people to think about them," said Shirley.

"I'm not winning in the letter competition, Mum," wrote Simon, "So can you contact the Western Telegraph and get them to ask people to write to me." Letters will reach Simon, who is a former pupil of Johnston CP and Tasker Milward School, Haverfordwest, via 25040535 Corporal Morgan-Jones DSIA ICSMR, Op TELIC, BFPO 647.

CAPTION

Lighting a candle at St Martin's Church, Haverfordwest, on behalf of the Pembrokeshire families with loved ones in the Gulf War is Mary Griffiths, from Haverfordwest. PICTURE: Western Telegraph (WTNO469H03)