I WAS watching the TV news when I was given the astonishing news that 40 per cent of our citizens would not be observing the two minutes' silence.

May I recall, a million soldiers died in the First World War, a large number in the Second and many young soldiers in later conflicts up to Afghanistan and the Middle East now. I know of two lads who died because Egyptians wasted their watches and a survey team in Kenya chopped to pieces by gangsters with knives, and so it goes on.

I can only say think again about the two minutes' silence next year.

G W White, Military Cartographer (retired), Coppice Hill, Bradford on Avon