ON November 11 the local community and the country at large on Armistice Day will once again be paying tribute to those who gave their lives on our behalf in battles throughout the world and continue to do so to this day.

Lest we forget, locally and elsewhere it was a sacrifice shared by many from other countries and nationalities who fought alongside our heroes.

In 1914-18 almost a million Indian soldiers were mobilised to fight for Great Britain in France, Mesopotamia and the Middle East.

In the Second World War in the Alamein victory our lads there would be the first to recognise it owed just as much to Indian and Dominion troops as it did to the British.

At Cassino in Italy, the truly heroic Poles, along with the Indian Fourth Division, suffered losses.

Of the 27 Victoria Crosses awarded in the Burma Campaign, 20 went to Indian soldiers.

Perhaps it might be worthwhile considering that at the Cenotaph ceremony each year holders of the Victoria Cross or their relatives should carry placards of their country of origin.

CLIVE EDWARDS, Hope Street, Blackburn.