I FOUGHT in the last war and I am sure that many of your readers who also did were as startled as I was to read the article on the front page of last week's Hereford Times.

In that edition, the vicar of Holmer told us that old men who had served in the last war had become so disillusioned with life in Britain today that they wondered whether the Second World War was worth fighting.

I am sure that all who fought in the last war, including those to whom the vicar has talked, would be well aware, as the vicar should be, of what would have happened if we had not defeated Nazi Germany.

Britain would have ceased to be a democratic country but would havebecome a dictator state where those liberties which we value so highly, freedom of speech, freedom of political and religious beliefs, freedom of the press and other freedoms would have been stamped out. Jewish people in this country would almost certainly have been subjected to the same barbaric cruelty that the Jews suffered in Germany and other countries.

Mr Williams looks back on his happy childhood in the 1950s. His memories would have been much more bleak if the Nazis has been in power. And he certainly would not now be safely ensconced in Holmer vicarage.

I, too, regret that the younger generation do not appreciate the sacrifice made by millions during the last two World Wars and I, too, am unhappy about certain aspects of life in modern Britain, but I am happy to be free to express my opinions and am strongly aware of how much worse life in Britain would be in if we had not defeated Germany.

W R MORRIS, Quarry Road, Hereford.