French are asked for Armed Forces Week support
ORGANISERS of Guernsey's Armed Forces Week have called on the French to save the military spectacle after the British refused to send over helicopters.
The SOS call was made amid a warning that the occasion would be a 'shadow of itself' without a forces presence this summer.
'It will be an Armed Forces Week without the armed forces,' said Mike Snelling, the organising committee chairman.
In October, he asked whether Apache, Chinook and Merlin helicopters could come over on Armed Forces Day, which is on Sunday 22 June.
But Joint Helicopter Command Headquarters said that it was unable to support the event due to the high level of commitment required and direct competition from 'higher priority tasking'.
A response from the Royal Navy also said that with regret it was unable to support with assets.
Mr Snelling has now written to the French Embassy in London to ask whether a ship or helicopter could be sent from Cherbourg, St Malo or Brest.
