A FORMER veteran paratrooper aged over 90, taken ill during the Remembrance Sunday Commemorations in Petersfield, was back home the following day and fighting fit again.
Chris Pett, a member of the Petersfield branch of the Royal British Legion, is now blind and was escorted throughout the service in The Square and on the parade to the War Memorial by a serving member of the Parachute Regiment.
Royal British Legion chairman, Royal Navy Commander Clive Lewis (retired), said: “The serving soldier was with Chris throughout. Chris has been unwell recently and at the War Memorial he didn’t feel so good, and an ambulance was called and he was taken to Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.
“Fortunately it was just a blood pressure problem, and he was back home fighting fit again on Monday.”
This year the parade from the annual service in The Square to the War Memorial in the High Street was bigger than ever before, believes Commander Lewis.
He said: “It was a great turnout, the parade was very well supported, and more than £2,000 was raised through a bucket collection for the Poppy Appeal.
“It was very good and a very moving ceremony.”
Around £2,300 was collected for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal before, during and after the service in The Square, which was led by Petersfield Vicar Will Hughes, a former Royal Navy chaplain.