Each year, a few more men fall out of the Remembrance Day Parade permanently, as illness and mortality take their toll on the veterans who risked their lives more than 60 years ago so that we could live in freedom.

That makes it more important that we should honour their courage and conviction, and as importantly, that we should ensure that the men ? and women ? who served in the Second World War should live out their lives in comfort and dignity.

That manifestly is not the case today and it is a disgrace and an embarrassment that one of the richest countries in the world cannot or will not find the money to allow people, mainly in their 80s, to know that they will not be allowed to become destitute.

In recent years, there has also been a debate about the support given to those men and women who served in the armed forces but who, for whatever reason, did not serve overseas or did not see combat. It can and has been argued that the volunteers who saw battle and saw their comrades fall are entitled to a war pension, while those who remained on the Island to guard Bermuda, or served overseas but did not see a shot fired in anger do not.

As time passes, this argument has less credence. The fact is that Bermuda had to be guarded and there was no reason to think, at least in the early parts of the war, that it would not come under attack.

Equally, there were Bermudians serving in the Royal Naval Dockyard who helped to keep the Atlantic supply lines open. Without that, Britain would have starved to death.

For those who fear that this would open the financial floodgates, the reality is that Bermuda?s Second World War veterans are now so few and far between and their numbers are dwindling so rapidly that the cost would be small. But the rewards for the whole community would be uncountable.

This is something that should be done, and quickly.

Greying population

It was perhaps no coincidence that at a time when Bermuda?s thoughts are with its senior citizens that a report should come out that states that some 22 percent of the population will be over the age of 65 within 23 years.

The fact that Bermuda?s population is ageing rapidly is no secret, and Government has in the last few years done much to improve the state of the Contributory Pension Fund after a shamefully long period when not much was done at all. There are two factors at play here.

Bermuda?s infrastructure for caring for the aged is still relatively poor. The United Bermuda Party rightly recognised that the Contributory Pension Fund, which was only ever designed as a supplement and not as a full pension was inadequate and made private pensions mandatory.

But this measure is too little too late for many people now headed full speed towards retirement. For that reason, much more effort needs to be made to ensure that they will have a reliable income. At the same time, Government has talked and is still talking about extending the retirement age. The only decision that needs to be made on this question is whether it should be mandatory or voluntary. But it needs to be done, and soon.

The truth is that many people continue to work after retirement from their careers. But too many are driven into low earning jobs ? notably in security ? that fail to take account of their experience and knowledge.

The community needs to think hard, and quickly, about how best to serve its seniors and to get the most out of them as well.