Riddled with cancer, Frederick Ming is in need of constant care and attention.

The jovial 86-year-old, who served in North Africa during the Second World War, is lucky to have a supportive family who give him all the help he needs.

But the toll is heavy on them, with daughter Cheryl Ming juggling a husband in Florida with the full-time care of her father.

And with her husband facing an operation himself next month, Cheryl knows that going to the US will leave the war veteran short on care.

To put her fiercely proud father in respite care seems to be the only solution, but it is an expensive enterprise and one with which there is no financial help available ? despite his service background.

?It isn?t right,? Cheryl told

?These people sacrifice themselves for their nation and there has been nothing given back. There was no homecoming and there has been nothing since.

?My father literally helped to build Bermuda from Dockyard to St. George?s and I think there should be some respect for what he has done. But we get no war pension, no help, no nothing. It doesn?t seem right. It is time for Bermuda to give something back.?

In Britain, ex-serviceman not only have the safety net of a national health service as well as a servicemen-specific network of care homes and aid organisations, she feels Bermuda offers none of that.In the US, the GI Bill ensured free schooling for servicemen?s offspring, interest free-loans, help with finding employment post-war and help finding housing or land.

But in Bermuda, much of that is lacking, leaving people like Mr. Ming to fend for themselves despite the sacrifice they made volunteering in the prime of their lives to fight for a free world.

Calvin Ming is another in a similar situation. This Mr. Ming, who served in Egypt and Italy, is now 80 and spends hours every day visiting his sick wife in hospital. He has received no war pension and returned from service to pursue life as a painter, taxi driver and then prison officer with no help from the Government.

And his son, also named Calvin, believes free healthcare, an ex-servicemen?s club free from alcohol and a war pension are a right people like his father have earned.

?I think people have really forgotten what happened 50 years ago,? Mr. Ming junior told ?Help here is almost non-existent. In other countries, like the US or the UK people who went to war had some rights to financial advancement when they returned. There was an inevitability of compensation for what they did. Here in Bermuda, there is nothing like that. People have to scramble around to survive.

?I really believe that people who went to fight for our freedom should be at the very least taken care of in return.?

He said he wanted to see the Pensions and Gratuities (War Service) Act 1947 changed now to ensure some kind of financial recompense for those who served, although admitted that any legal application on behalf of the veterans would be ultimately redundant as any changes would undoubtedly come after the death of those remaining.

?I?d like to see Government look carefully at what can be done for our elderly, and something special for the veterans,? he added.

Lest we forget...