V-Day for Veterans campaign

By James Weatherup

VETERANS Day is to be turned into a major national celebration—in a victory for a News of the World campaign.

The event will be moved to a weekend after we campaigned for it to be given a much higher profile so the country could salute our heroes properly.

It is normally on June 27 but is a low-key affair and many people don't know it exists.

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It's to late to change it this year, but in future it will be on a Saturday, with parades, marches and barracks open days.

The Ministry of Defence has also promised to fund new education grants for serving soldiers and veterans—another of our key demands.

A spokesman for the Soldiers, Sailors Airmen and Families Association, who backed our campaign from the start, said: "It has highlighted the debt we all owe our veterans and has got results quickly.

"Moving Veterans Day to a Saturday will give many more people the chance to show they appreciate the sacrifices made on our behalf."

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Defence Secretary Des Browne said: "Public appreciation for what our armed forces are doing really matters.

" It's vitally important that we have a better understanding between the public and our brave service personnel.

"The News of the World is making a great contribution to this."