Tomorrow, Bermuda's dwindling band of war veterans will once again parade on Front Street.

With each year that passes, fewer Second World War vets are able to take part; age, infirmity and ultimately death means that these former soldiers, the youngest of whom are in their late 70s, will one day no longer be able to remind people of their sacrifices, or the sacrifice of those who never returned from war.

As veterans' biographer Tommy Aitchison pointed out recently, Bermuda sent more soldiers overseas on a per capita basis than any other country in the British Commonwealth and Empire.

The Second World War is often described as a "just war". It is hard, in today's world where the ideas of democracy and market-based economies are generally accepted, to recall that the Second World War was above all a clash of ideologies pitting democracies, albeit imperfect ones, on the one hand, versus racist totalitarian dictatorships bent on world conquest on the other.

Nor should it be forgotten that the Allies' victory was by no means a foregone conclusion.

So the young men and women who volunteered to serve overseas, not only with the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps and the Bermuda Militia Artillery, but in the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, the Merchant Navy and as ambulance drivers, nurses and the like, are owed a huge debt of gratitude.

The war also paved the way for the grant of civil rights to all, regardless of race, gender or creed.

The black soldiers who volunteered to serve overseas with the Caribbean Regiment showed they were prepared to take the same risks as white soldiers.

If they could put their lives on the line, then why couldn't they vote without a property qualification or go to the same restaurants and hotels and work in the same jobs as whites?

Much has changed since 1945. Much is owed to "the Greatest Generation", as American journalist Tom Brokaw describes the Second World War generation, for bringing about those changes.

Still, at least one legacy of those days does remain.

Researcher Carol Everson has shown that the black soldiers who served with the Caribbean Regiment have not received the same level of benefits as their white counterparts.

This is clearly wrong and must be redressed. Bermuda's black war veterans have earned and deserve some comfort in their final years. And it needs to be done soon while there are still veterans alive to enjoy the benefits.

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.