Staff from the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) will honour servicemen and women at Remembrance Sunday and Remembrance Day events across the region this weekend and the coming week.
Colleagues from across the organisation — including emergency and scheduled care, the emergency operations centre (EOC), and support services — will attend local ceremonies to lay wreaths on behalf of NEAS, joining colleagues from partner emergency services and armed forces organisations. Together, they will visit cities, towns, and villages such as: Newcastle, Durham, Morpeth, and Bishop Auckland, to name a few.
NEAS employs a significant number of veterans as well as military personnel who are currently serving.
The Trust is proud to be recognised as a ‘Veteran Aware’ and ‘Armed Forces Gold Covenant’ employer. Since signing the ‘Armed Forces Covenant’ in 2020, NEAS has progressed through the ‘Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (DERS)’ to achieve the ‘Gold Employer Award’.
This commitment to the ‘Defence Employer Recognition Scheme’ (DERS) is the highest level of recognition from the Ministry of Defence for employers, commending those organisations who go above and beyond in their support for the armed forces community.
Karen Gardner, assistant director of people and development at NEAS, said, “As we approach Remembrance Day, we are once again reminded of the sacrifices many men and women have made for our country. Hundreds of these brave individuals now work in our service. They are rightly very proud of the service they have given, and often continue to give, to their country, and we are equally proud of them and the valuable contribution they continue to make through working for us."
Hannah Vice is the co-chair of the Trust's staff network, Serve@NEAS, which invites all serving and veteran members of staff to meet and create their own community – often getting involved in celebrations, such as Remembrance Day, and many others.
Hannah added, “Remembrance Day reminds us not only of the courage and sacrifice of those who served before us, but also of the enduring spirit of service that continues within our organisation today.
“The Serve@NEAS staff network honours that legacy by supporting and connecting with those within the North East Ambulance Service who have served, are serving, or who carry the values of service in their everyday roles.
“This network is more than a community — it’s a living reminder that dedication, compassion and unity are at the heart of everything we do.”
This year, we asked our staff to share who they are remembering on Remembrance Day. A family member, a friend, or their own experience. Remembrance Day unites everyone and we all have our own stories to tell. You can read our staff’s accounts here:
Adrian is a clinical development and education officer at the North East Ambulance Service and is remembering his Dutch grandfather, Anton.
Adrian shared his grandfather's story, “I wish to remember Anton Kalff, my Dutch grandfather, who worked with the Dutch Resistance during the second world war.
“His job was to hide Dutch Jews from occupying forces and distribute funds to Resistance fighters.
“He was imprisoned in a concentration camp but survived. He never spoke about it afterwards, except to talk about the importance of freedom.”
Julie, a health advisor at the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS), shared the story of her grandfather through an exert written by her father.
"Henry (Harry) Foster was an eighteen-year-old apprentice joiner when he joined the Army in 1915 to serve in the Royal Engineers as a Sapper. In later life he didn’t talk about his experiences in the Great War apart from the amusing bits. He did mention one or two episodes which obviously had a traumatic effect on him. One thing he told me about was his involvement in the digging of the tunnels at the Somme. He didn’t say what his job was, but I believe (because he was a joiner in Civvy Street) he may have prepared and erected the props to shore the roofs up (like the one’s which used to be used in coal mines).
“There is no doubt that, like personnel on both sides (male and female) he suffered terribly in the “muck and bullets”. I believe this because when I was posted by the RAF to Singapore in 1956 and left home for embarkation the tears were streaming down his face, and I could see the fear in his eyes. At that time the Malayan conflict was drawing to a close, but I think he thought I was going into a similar experience. Fortunately for me I had a cushy number in a signals office, and I quickly wrote home to explain this.
“Dad served until the end of the war and was “lucky” enough to take up his civilian job again.
“Those of you who know me will be aware that I wear medals on Remembrance Sunday. The one on my right breast is a replica of Dad’s award. I wear this with more pride than the others. Sadly, it is a replica because some years ago (possibly 1995) we had an exhibition in St John’s about the war years and Dad’s medal was displayed but during that time it disappeared. If anyone knows of its whereabouts, I’d be grateful to know.
“Henry (Harry) Foster jnr.”
Hannah works as a training officer for the North East Ambulance Service and is remembering her father, Kenneth, who was in the territorial army when the Second World War broke out.
Hannah shared her father’s memory, “Kenneth Jenkins, RAMC (Royal army Medical Corps).
“My father was in the Territorial Army and away on his annual camp when the Second World War broke out. Like many others, he was deployed for the entirety of the war, seeing action in many areas including France, Italy (specifically Monte Casino), and Germany.
“I particularly want to remember his involvement in the liberation of Bergen Belsen, a concentration camp. He was one of the first British soldiers to go into the camp and to witness the terrible atrocities that had occurred there. However, like so many he showed utter professionalism and fully engaged in his role as a medic delivering any help that he could.
“For his part in the war effort, my father was honoured with both an MBE and OBE - my father, my hero.”
Karen is the assistant director of people and development at the North East Ambulance Service and is remembering her grandfather, Charles, who served in the Second World War, with the Royal Artillery.
Karen shared the experience of her grandfather, “My grandfather served in the Second World War and the military for many years. He served at Dunkirk where he was severely wounded, after recovering, he went straight back to military active service.
“He met and married my grandmother in Malta where he was stationed, and she had been evacuated to during the war. My grandfather was on active service, sometimes for years; the longest being seven full years where he didn’t see his wife or children.
“He lived to be 99 years old, and when he left military service became a police officer. He retired from the police service and became a postman and worked full time until he was almost 81 years old.
“I am so very proud to be his Granddaughter and want to acknowledge the huge sacrifices he made to give us a safe and better life.”
Paul, a team manager for our patient transport service, works out of Coulby Newham. Previously, Paul served in the British Army as a Warrant Officer (class 2). Paul remembers his grandad, Eric, who served in the Second World War, in Burma. Paul shared his grandad’s experience.
“My Grandad, Eric, served in Burma in the Second World War; after being captured by the Japanese, he spent 3 years as a prisoner of war in Rangoon. He was tortured, starved, and forced to work on the notorious railway line called the ‘Death Railway’.
“After three-years of torture, Grandad escaped after an American bombardment of the camp. He went on the run with 120 fellow prisoners for weeks.
“Eventually, he was found and rescued. His war was over, but I can’t even believe to think what he had gone through. I can’t even say that he was the lucky one to have survived, because of the mental scars that the war left behind. I have seen video footage of my Grandad who was skin and bone.
“My Mam said my Grandad never talked about his thoughts and harrowing experiences after the war.
“The film in 2014 name ‘The Railway Man’ is based on a true story about an army officer who was captured and tortured by the Japanese as a POW. I went to see this film at the cinema with my mother and brother. An excellent movie. It really bought home what my Grandad and other POW’s must have gone through.
“I never knew my grandad; he died before I was born. Loved and never forgotten. Wear your poppy with pride.”
Josh is a newly qualified paramedic (NQP) at NEAS, as well as a veteran himself. He shared his own experiences about who he remembers and why.
“The two guys I remember are two lads who are true northerners, John a devoted Mackem, and Michael from Blyth, both were tragically taken from us during Operation Herrick 11 (Afghanistan).
“A/Sgt John Amer – Number 1 Company, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards & Gdsm Michael Sweeney – Number 1 Company, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards.
“I feel it important to share the story of John, as it sums up for me what it really meant to be a soldier, and ‘serve’. John was killed leading from the front and setting the finest example any soldier could. He was evacuating his men, whom had already been involved in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast. Whilst attending to one of his men, another IED was detonated and this led to the sad loss of John.
“He was adored and cherished by all who knew him, and his character would fill every room he entered.
“Michael was the last fatality of our tour, he died only a couple of weeks before we began to return to the UK, and at 19 was the youngest soldier we lost. Despite his young age, he had a hunger for life and a passion which was undeniable for his career.
“Although this is a short reflection, I would like to take the opportunity to remember all that have fallen and given their lives in the sacrifice of this nation and a safer world, including those who fell to injuries after they returned from war, both physically and mentally.
“None will ever be forgotten. Lance Corporal James Hill, Lieutenant Douglas Dalzell MC, Lance Corporal Darren Hicks, Guardsman Jack Davies (died from injuries later following the tour). The names of the remainder who fell during Herrick 11 from 1 COLDM GDS. Nulli Secundus.”
To learn more about how NEAS supports veterans and our armed forces community, visit: https://