Grieving military mums call on King Charles to commission new medal honouring their fallen sons and daughters
GRIEVING military mums have called on King Charles to commission a new medal honouring their fallen sons and daughters.
Hundreds have been denied the Elizabeth Cross, which is only given to the registered next of kin of killed personnel — often a spouse, rather than a parent.
And Carol Jones, 76, is leading the call for a King Charles Cross after her Fusilier son John, 31, died in Iraq in 2005.
She said: “If you are not registered as next of kin to a soldier who dies, you’re not considered family and count for nothing.
“We are pleading with our new monarch to change this.”
Carol, of Hurley, Warks, went on: “Our king has two sons who served in the military.
“If, God forbid, one had been killed and he was denied a medal in their honour, he would know how devastating this is.”
She is backed by Lyn Rigby, whose fusilier son Lee, 25, was killed by terrorists in South London in 2013.
She was refused the medal, given instead to Lee’s estranged wife, as “he hadn’t updated his paperwork”.
Carol Valentine, 65 — whose sergeant son Simon, 29, was killed in Afghanistan — said it has been “utterly heartbreaking”, but added: “Our loss counts for nothing to the bureaucrats.
“The King Charles Cross would mean so much to us parents.”
Other denied parents of Afghanistan war heroes include Caroline Whitaker, whose son Sgt Gareth Thursby, 29, was killed in 2012, and Hazel Hunt, grieving the loss of Pte Richard, 21, in 2009.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
The MoD said parents who are not next of kin can instead apply for a Memorial Scroll.
