This Armed Forces Day, show your support for those who give our nation their all.

Some of our veterans have recently stepped up to serve our nation once again, this time in the fight against coronavirus. Thanks to people like you, they’ve regained their strength after illness or injury and taken their place back on the front line.

At the same time, the coronavirus pandemic is having a big impact on many of our veterans’ mental health. Since the start of the outbreak, we’ve seen a significant rise in the number of requests for help and a 50% increase* in the number of veterans who feel they are not managing their mental health well.

They, and their families, need our help now more than ever.

Together, we can help them regain their strength. Together we are stronger.

#StrongerTogether #SaluteOurForces

https://helpforheroes.org.uk/give-support/armed-forces-day-2020

Celebrate those who give our nation their all. #saluteourforces Help for Heroes
Picture of Simon Bangert in a black 'Honour Pride Together' t-shirt
“It’s a superb feeling knowing my words may inspire people”.

Meet Simon Bangert. He’s a Dad, Veteran, Help for Heroes Ambassador and Poet.

Simon served for 10 years in the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers before being medically discharged in 2004. Since 2013 Help for Heroes has been supporting Simon with his PTSD. He recently became an Ambassador.

A regular at Phoenix House Recovery centre in Catterick Simon quickly found the therapeutic benefits of painting and poetry to help him with his PTSD. “When I was undergoing therapy I started to use it as a tool to convey feelings and thoughts’’. He says the Together poem “conveys the strength of the veteran community and brotherhood that serving has, in that we will fall down with you, but we’ll also be there to pick you up’’.

“Help for Heroes have been a huge reason that I continue waking up each day, as they were there when I was at my lowest and signposted me to the support I needed, and gave my daughter a Dad that she deserved’’.

Together

Together we served side by side,
Completing our missions with honour and pride.

Together we laughed, together we fell
We did the job in what was hell.

For some we got the call,
No longer to serve, the biggest fall.

Injury and illness an abrupt end
Civvy life hard to comprehend.

The dark days loomed our thoughts lament,
Was this all our duty meant.

Until one day a brother’s arm,
Around the shoulder it meant no harm.

Unto a group that felt akin,
To laughs and banter, like we’re still in.

And now together we stand tall,
With each other’s back no longer to fall.

By Simon Bangert, veteran and Help for Heroes Ambassador

Our mission statement

Help for Heroes supports men and women who have been physically or psychologically wounded while serving in the British Armed Forces. The charity provides the help they and their families need to recover and get on with their lives.

About us

At Help for Heroes, we believe those who serve our country deserve support when they’re wounded.

Every day, men and women have to leave their career in the Armed Forces as a result of physical or psychological wounds; their lives changed forever.

We help them, and those still serving, to recover and get on with their lives. We give them physical, psychological, financial and welfare support for as long as they need it. We also support their families, because they too can be affected by their loved one’s wounds.

We receive almost no funding from the Government, which means we rely on the spirit and generosity of the great British public, our partners and volunteers to keep going. Rest assured, we continue to put pressure on the Government to do more.

So far, with your help, we’ve supported more than 25,000 people, but we know that many more still need us. We won’t stop until every wounded veteran gets the support they deserve.

*Data from 1,161 wounded veterans & serving personnel who took part in a survey sent by Help for Heroes during the week commencing 11 May 2020 to over 15,000 wounded, injured and sick veterans, serving personnel and family members to understand how their support needs have changed during the Covid-19 pandemic