Recently, published a story about how Tommy Aitchison and his wife were leaving the Island, having found that they simply could not afford to remain.

The story deftly captured the human tragedy behind the issues facing senior citizens on the Island. It might have been aptly entitled ?how bad things happen to good people?.

The story described Mr. Aitchison?s life but, perhaps for reasons of space, or due to Mr. Aitchison?s own modesty, did not make much mention of his contributions to Bermuda in two disparate areas.

The first concerns his war service. Mr. Aitchison volunteered to serve overseas in the Second World War and was shipped off to England for further training with the Lincolnshire Regiment.

Shortly after D-Day, he landed in France with scores of other Bermudians and fought across Europe until victory was achieved. Mr. Aitchison survived. Many others did not.

Since the war, Mr, Aitchison has been the leading light in the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps? Overseas Association, an exclusive club for those members of the BVRC who fought overseas in the Second World War.

In the last few years, it has been Mr. Aitchison?s solemn duty to record the passing of his comrades and he has submitted dozens of obituaries to this newspaper recording their war service.

This is a thankless task. But the community should be grateful to him for carrying it out. these are permanent reminders of the contributions of the ?Greatest Generation?.

Mr. Aitchison?s other great contribution has been to cricket. He is one of the Island?s pre-eminent cricket statisticians and for many years published the Bermuda Cricket Annual, now sadly defunct.

He was also one of the founders of the Bermuda Cricket Foundation, which aimed to put the Island?s national sport, then riding higher than it is today, on a sound financial basis and to provide facilities and resources for the development of young cricketers.

Sadly, the then-administrators of the Bermuda Cricket Board of Control wanted nothing to do with it and it died, a far-sighted idea which fell victim to myopia and jealousy.

Nonetheless, Mr. Aitchison?s contributions to Bermuda survive.

That?s just as well, since he will no longer be on the Island to continue them. This editorial is not an obituary, but it may as well be one.

To be sure, the Aitchisons are not the first senior citizens to leave Bermuda for economic reasons.

They won?t be the last either; if anything, it is likely that a trickle will now become a flood.

There is a level of personal responsibility involved with this as well. People have an obligation to prepare for their retirements, since everyone must be aware that the Government pension was never designed to cover all the costs of retirees.

But at least two factors have had a serious effect on even the best-prepared senior citizens? financial planning. One is the way that housing costs have rocketed in recent years.

The second is the soaring cost of health care, which most affects those seniors who are unable to continue with the medical insurance ? particularly to cover the cost of prescriptions ? that they had when they were working. The shame is that people lose their health insurance when they most need it.

As the baby boom generation moves towards retirement, this problem is only going to get worse.

The loss of seniors to Bermuda is a two-edged sword. Seniors are being told, in effect, that they are no longer wanted in the land they built, and in Mr. Aitchison?s case, preserved for democracy. And the community loses the benefit of the experience that people like Tommy Aitchison have to give.

That?s no way to treat people who have given their best years to this Island.