they are indeed heroes. I remember reading a story when researching the Victoria Cross, the Commonwealths highest military honour, about Queen Victoria not wanting it to be awarded "for bravery" because everyone who fought a war was brave. The VC is inscribed with "for valour".

One of the things that our veterans and I tried to get across to the school children we did presentations to was that countries don't make war, governments make war and citizens fight them. It is important for them to remain alert to what their government is doing and call them to account. Dad was one of those veterans who took part in those presentations. I don't know how well we did getting that message across to the kids.