PLATFORM 13 at Waterloo station was deserted the day the second Gulf War began. The anti-war chorus from nearby demonstrators, echoing through the station concourse, was the only reminder that things were hotting up.

The Wales and West train was ready for departure to Leominster and I was sitting on a bench when I spotted them, two elderly gents, dressed in semi-casual clothing and towing short-stay travel bags on wheels.

While I had been sun-seeking in France, they had been on a pilgrimage to Ypres with the 'Not Forgotten' Association, and it was the twin regimental ties that first caught my eye when they asked: "Is this the Hereford train?"

It was a poignant and unexpected meeting.

Air-gunners during World War Two flying Lancasters and Wellington bombers, Bill Morris (79) and Gordon Bennett Young (82) - his given name from a surprised father - are active members of the Hereford Air Gunners Association.

Obviously moved by their first-time visit to Passchendaele, where Bill's father had been gassed in the Great War, they, as 'old comrades' tend to do, hid their true feelings as much from each other as me.

Bill said: "I thought we had it tough in the 1940s, but when you see Passchendaele and the cell where 300 young British deserters were shot, it really brought it home.

"Talk about weapons of mass destruction, my dad suffered from the gas until he died at 76. I did this trip for him."

Bill, like Gordon, lives in Tupsley, and is a former chief admin officer with Hereford City Council.

He said: "I have lived in the city since 1959, and it's been a wonderful place to live and work. I was also secretary of the Herefordshire Football League and I'm a life member of the HFA."

Gordon, a Londoner, is famous for putting up neon signs at Odeon Cinemas, including Hereford's before the war, and from 1969 until 1982 managed the scoreboard at Wimbledon's Centre Court.

He said: "In a sense I can claim to be a Herefordian, my grandfather was a cooper at Bulmers when it was just an old tin shed."

Asked about the Gulf War, they paled a bit.

"It had to come," Gordon replied. "But it's still a bit of a shock to think young men and women are taking on such a terrible enemy."

"Should have sorted it out and finished it off last time around," Bill added. "Let's hope it won't last for too long."