WAR MEMORIAL FUND

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 31, 21 May 1947, Page 7

WAR MEMORIAL FUND

BENEFITS FOR THE LIVING SUBSTANTIAL AID FOR EX-SOLDIERS By what means would men who fell in battle wish to be remembered by their neighbours? Luton in Bedfordshire has - answered this query by deciding that practical help to the living will best commemorate the dead. A fund has therefore been started, the first £5,000 of which will be used for grants for ex-ser-vicemen and women and their dependants, to help them through some difficulty. The second £50,000 will build a new wing to Luton’s hospital. Subscriptions already total £26,000..

Luton is thus enabled to give substantial help to individual cases immediately the need arises. For example, one 39 year-old ex-soldier with a big family, has lung trouble caused by exposure during active service. Only a dry climate can save him, and his problem was transportation to Denver in Colorado where work awaits him. The War Memorial Fund solved his problem with a grant of £3OO as an extra to his 60 per cent, disability pension. Another wounded ex-soldier received an. autocycle to enable him to travel to and from his work, while a former prisoner-of-war running a poultry farm despite paralysed legs has been voted £ISOO to build a bungalow.

As the children of war widows grow older, the fund will be available to help with education or with any other special need. The War Memorial Fund was born in a democratic spirit and is democratically run. Every ratepayer had a chance to make suggestions for a suitable memorial and this realistic idea headed the ballot. The trustees administering the fund are men and women from all walks of life. There are Luton’s member of parliament and Mayor, and representatives oLthe British Legion and Chamber of Commerce who can advise on pensions and local employment problems. The remaining 27 trustees represent Luton’s various occupations—workmen and managers from the motor car and chemical works, corporation employees and the licensee of one of Luton’s inns. So far, of 19 applications, 14 war veterans have been given a helping hand on the road back to health and prosperity.