As Bermuda's ever-dwindling band of war veterans prepare to parade on Front Street again tomorrow, everyone in Bermuda should take a moment to remember the sacrifices that they and their comrades made.

It is also worth remembering that some of these men — and women — are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet, which shows that the community's gratitude is depressingly shallow.

In that context, the Bermuda Regiment deserves credit for working to ensure that the veterans are receiving all the benefits and pensions to which they are entitled.

The Regiment is the successor organisation to the Bermuda Militia Artillery and the Bermuda Volunteer Organisation, which collectively sent more soldiers overseas during the Second World War on a per capita basis than any other nation in the world. So it is fitting that it has taken on this task.

Given the enormous efforts Bermuda's soldiers made during the war, and the seeds their contributions sowed for widening democracy and civil rights in its aftermath, the least we can do as a community is ensure that their final years are comfortable.

For many of the veterans, their thoughts tomorrow will be with those who were left on the fields of Europe, North Africa and Asia, or in the deep waters of the world's oceans. And they will also remember their comrades who have passed since the end of the war.

Our thoughts should be with the veterans, who risked their lives so we could live ours in safety and freedom.