AS the island prepares to remember its war dead this weekend, a charity set up to assist Bermuda's war veterans has been condemned by former soldiers for failing to do its duty.

The under-fire Bermuda War Veterans Association has been branded racist and elitist by a number of veterans who claim the organisation is hoarding hundreds of thousands of dollars that should be spent on the needy.

And one female veteran said she was barred from taking part in the annual Remembrance Day parade because "women would never keep up with the men".

Yesterday, BWVA committee member Jack Lightbourn downplayed the accusations, insisting that the dispute had been driven by politics and that his organisation was operating above board.

"The whole damn thing was brought up because of politics, simply for votes," he said, referring to legislation passed earlier this year entitling war veterans, who had served at home, to pensions.

"People erroneously think those who went overseas are in possession of pensions. We're not. (The BWVA doesn't) grant pensions. We give assistance to those who are needy. If they wanted to change it, that could have been done but we've never been approached about changing whether people were (classified) as war veterans or not. Initially, you couldn't even belong to the Bermuda Corps unless you had been in an operational zone although that changed later.

"I'm sorry if I seem biased but which do you think would be the most disturbing area to be in? Sitting in Bermuda? Or elsewhere, where bombs and shots are falling? That's the reason why the distinction was made. We understand that in most countries, particularly the bigger countries, people join and can be sent (abroad). Bermuda is different. You could not be sent outside unless you volunteered to go."

The BWVA became embroiled in controversy last month after it was revealed it had been raising funds by handing out poppies provided by UK-based charity the Royal British Legion ¿ without following the Legion's regulations.

As a result of the conflict, the RBL has refused to provide the local group with poppies for this year's Remembrance Day campaign. The BWVA, which is run by a four-man Board of Trustees, will instead hand out stickers in return for donations.

The RBL ¿ which raises millions of dollars worldwide each year ¿ claims that the local group should be providing support for all soldiers, regardless of where they were posted. The BWVA, which limits financial support to Bermudians who have served overseas during times of conflict, is currently assisting just 14 of Bermuda's 200-plus veterans.

The RBL also questioned why the BWVA had stockpiled massive reserves of cash ¿ as of last year it had nearly $1.5 million in assets¿- while many of the island's veterans were in need.

Those concerns have now been backed up by a number of veterans.

Contrary to BWVA claims, "Bermuda was a war zone", insisted Sergeant Herbert J. Tatem.

A machine gunner with the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) between April 1939 and January 1942, he was transferred to the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers and that April, loaned to the Royal Navy in the Signal Distribution Office at HMS Malabar.

"In June of 1943 I was sent to 'Cypher Office' at Admiralty House, Pembroke, where all messages were received and sent in various codes," he stated. "Also received at about midnight, was a listing of all enemy submarines spotted that day by three special stations, one in Halifax, one at Daniel's Head in Bermuda, and the third in Trinidad. The three would swing their 'sounders' as we called them until they picked up the sound of an enemy submarine, draw a line from each station to the 'sound' and have the submarine spotted in minutes.

"One morning when there were about 40 ships practising submarine tracking about 25 to 30 miles southeast of Bermuda, a U-boat surfaced and when he saw so many ships, he promptly submerged into deep water. Luckily for the ships, (from the United States Navy and the Royal Navy) he did not know that these were new ships with new crews and had no live ammunition aboard."

Recalling an assigned task to mark submarines' positions on a map, Mr. Tatem (pictured) said: "Many locals would have had lots of sleepless nights if they had known that some subs were within firing range. I have been a canvasser for the poppy tag day for about 20 years. Almost five years ago I had a stroke and an aneurysm ¿ with a bill of over $118,000. All of my insurance was used up plus, I had to pay over $41,000 of my own. The BWVA didn't even mention that they were sorry."

Said another former soldier, who asked not to be named: "The BWVA barred all black soldiers from joining the War Veterans Association until 1965, so First World War and Second World War soldiers of the Bermuda Militia Artillery, etc. could never have got support from them.

"By an Act of Parliament, we were supposed to have overseas gratuities and grants to help us get educated and help us set up in business when the war was over. The BWVA never told us about this.

"After three years, these grants fell away, and we never got the chance to claim. We were supposed to get free hospital treatment and we were never told about that either. Some of us have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on hospital bills when we should have been taken care of. The BWVA had a duty of care to all the veterans as they were the War Commissioners, but they ignored us instead. Twice I applied for help to the BWVA and they sent me away very discourteously, telling me I 'looked alright'.

"Now, in 2007, they are letting 'certain' sons and daughters join the BWVA as associate members to 'take care' of the money we should all be sharing now. And all these years they have kept the poppy money, telling the RBL they were helping all of us. This was not true. They have only helped a very few of their membership, and many black veterans who were members of the BWVA have died poor and without proper medical care, ignored by them.

"It's a disgrace. This organisation should be wound up, and the large sums of money they have invested over the years ¿ they had $250,000 in investments before they even sold their clubhouse ¿ should be shared among the white and black membership now, because we all need it now."

Another veteran, 83-year-old Beryl Wainwright, also questioned the purpose of the island charity.

Mrs. Wainwright was 15 when the Second World War broke out in 1939. Within three years she was handling live torpedoes at a Royal Navy base in the northeast of England. She arrived on the island with her Bermudian husband ¿ who spent his war pulling downed RAF pilots out of the sea ¿ in 1946.

Mrs. Wainwright told the Mid-Ocean News that, shortly after being widowed, she contacted the BWVA asking if she could take part in the annual Remembrance Day parade.

"They said they didn't want any women because women would never keep up with the men," Mrs. Wainwright said.

"I have never heard from the BWVR. I think they might help some people but I don't know who. And if they don't start using the money now there's not going to be any veterans to spend it on."

Mr. Lightbourn described her recollection of being prevented from participating in the parade as "nonsense", insisting that women have marched alongside male veterans since World War Two.

"We've had women in the parade," he said. "And as a matter of fact, we have a female that we're assisting right now.

"We've been buying poppies for 84 years and out of the blue they're saying we're not doing it the way we should. We've taken care of our people. It's a political year, anything they can do to attract votes ¿ they're trying to do."