PUPILS at Marling School learnt about one of Britain’s forgotten wars when five members of the Gloucestershire branch of the Aden Veterans’ Association visited.
The veterans – John Wathern, Norma Rodman, Denis Sparrow, Stephen Weall and David Gearing – addressed pupils who are currently studying the Middle East, describing Aden as it was during the conflict of the 1960s and what it was like to return there in 2007.
Branch secretary Chris Blick said: “The lads and teachers were absolutely fascinated, very attentive and asked lots of questions. The Aden Emergency from 1963 to 1967 is one of the forgotten wars and we wanted to raise the profile of the conflict, when more than 200 British service personnel were killed.”
Will Smith, 18, from Nailsworth, said: “The Aden conflict was something that I knew nothing about, so it was absolutely amazing to hear people who had been involved speaking with such pride about their very different experiences. It brought home how small the world is, and it inspired me to go home and find out a bit more straight away.”
Following Thursday’s talk, Denis Sparrow presented teacher Dan Elson with a copy of his second book, Aden: Northwest frontier.
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