Former servicemen at a newly declared Veteran Friendly Care Home in Barnsley have called for the government to bring back national service.
Deangate Care Home, on Towngate in Mapplewell, has met the rigorous standards required to become the first in South Yorkshire to achieve Veteran Friendly Framework status.
It ensures armed forces veterans living there benefit from enhanced care and support as part of a scheme that aims to tackle loneliness and isolation and improve health and wellbeing for over 25,000 veterans in care homes across England.
RAF veteran Maurice Churchouse, 94, who joined the RAF as part of national service at just 18 in 1948, lives at Deangate Care Home.
Maurice Churchouse and Ian Dickinson believe national service should be brought back
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Speaking to GB News, he said: "It taught me a lot, yeah, national service, they want to bring it back.
"Stop all these knives on the streets, guns, everything. Discipline, it would teach them discipline. I'm nearing the end of my life now, really, but what kind of a world are these young kids growing up in?
"There's not that same duty or respect anymore and women dared'nt walk the streets at night anymore."
This sentiment was echoed by fellow care home resident and veteran 91-year-old Ian Dickinson, a former sergeant in the Army Education Corps.
He taught basic skills such as English and Maths in the Army as part of national service.
"I taught some who did machine drawing, they were very good. The rest just did reading, writing, 'rithmatic," he said.
"In a way, I'm proud I did my national service, and in a way, I think a hell of a lot of people should do national service.
"Probably not two years, but some time in some discipline, which a lot of people haven't got."
During the General Election, the Conservatives set out a plan to require 18-year-olds take part in a form of national service if the party won on July 4.
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The Tories set out a plan to bring back national service if they had won the General Election
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Rishi Sunak said the scheme would promote a "shared sense of purpose among our young people and a renewed sense of pride in our country".
But Labour labelled the plan a "gimmick" and other parties criticised the then-government for its record on cutting troop numbers.
The proposed scheme would have not been conscription, where people are legally required to join the armed forces for a period.
But it would have legally compelled people to complete a community programme over a 12-month period, or enroll in a year-long military training scheme, when they turned 18.
The name was taken from the mandatory military training British men aged 17 to 21 had to undertake for two years between 1947 and 1963.
Back in Barnsley, the veterans at Deangate Care Home are getting the best care possible, with honour and remembrance given for their duty in the Armed Forces.
To achieve Veteran Friendly Framework status, the care home was required to meet eight standards.
These included: noting Armed Forces status within care plans, addressing social isolations and signposting to support services, such as their local Royal British Legion branch, and other charities that provide support for veterans or partners of veterans.
Ian Dickinson believes national service should be brought back but be less than two years
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Rachael Addy, Activities Co-ordinator at Deangate Care Home, told GB News that the scheme recognises the importance of what veterans accomplished in their career and what it brought to their lives.
She said: "When they're identified as a veteran [at the care home], they're given a little poppy, and to provide personalised care, we add the service number on what they prefer to be called when they were serving and where they served and put it on the doors of their rooms.
"In their individual portfolios, we record the dates that are important to them.
"So for example, last year with Bill and Ian, we went down to the cenotaph, the local cenotaph. They went in full uniform and they wanted to remember those who served before them.
"We're in the process of setting up a veteran brunch, and we also put on different reminiscence workshops as well, so they can talk about their life experience.
"If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have what we have today."
The aim of the Veteran Friendly Framework is to better support the practical, emotional and social needs of the Armed Forces community in residential care homes across England, by providing training and resources to assess and improve the care offered.
The Veteran Friendly Framework is a collaboration between Armed Forces charities Royal Star & Garter and the Royal British Legion, and NHS Veterans’ Covenant Healthcare Alliance, with funding support from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust.
