Children learn meaning of service for King and country

A SERVING major in the army held a talk at a Henley primary school as part of its Remembrance reflections.

Major Sam Kennedy, of the Royal Logistics Corps, spoke to pupils at Rupert House about life in the armed forces and what it meant to him to “serve”.

Major Kennedy, who lives in Henley and is married to paralympic coxswain Erin Kennedy, spoke of his job with
47 Air Despatch Squadron, which includes co-ordinating distribution of supplies to troops on the ground.

This can entail delivering cargo including large vehicles out of the back of aircraft using parachutes. Pupils had the chance to try on various bits of Major Kennedy’s kit, including body armour, a helmet and a flying helmet.

Major Kennedy spoke to the students about Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, a high-ranking British Army officer who was killed in action in Helmand Province in Afghanistan in 2009.

Before his death, Lt Col Thorneloe had successfully argued that the brigade plan for Panther’s Claw, which was aimed at securing an area the size of the Isle of Wight against the Taliban, was too ambitious and should be modified. His words were likely responsible for saving the lives of a number of his troops.

Speaking to the children, Major Kennedy said: “When you have lunch today, you’ll have people serve you lunch, won’t you? And what the word ‘service’ means is giving something away. It’s giving something to someone else.

“In the military, it’s called service because we give things to other people. We give people protection and we give our time, and we give our freedom because we have to go away for long periods of time.”

Speaking after the presentation, Major Kennedy said he was very impressed with the reaction from the students. He said: “They got it immediately when I spoke to them about service. It’s also just trying to tease out where they might know the word from in their normal lives and relating that to remembrance.”

l A REPORT in last week’s Henley Standard incorrectly stated that Brett Spence is a former 3rd Marine paratrooper and Adam Knights is a former paratrooper of the Royal Marines.

In fact, they are military personnel of the 3rd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. We apologise for these errors and any embarrassment caused.