EXCITEMENT building for Armed Forces Day (Falmouth Packet, May 22) and I’m sure I’m the exception.

At 82 my first memories of war as a child were the Japan v China conflict; my own family’s involvement in World War One when Uncle Will Hosking who, like so many others, lied about his age in order to enlist and was duly blown to pieces in France, whilst his older brother, Charlie, was mentioned in dispatches, albeit I never found out what for.

Another uncle was invalided out due to severe shell shock, and that’s apart from my father and another uncle serving in World War Two.

Wars have rarely been out of the news and indeed virtually all who have voluntarily enlisted are dubbed heroes, whilst military parades, ceremonies, events per se have proliferated here in the UK promulgated by a royal family who all boast a varied selection of military uniforms in their personal wardrobes. It is true to say wars have become an ongoing source of huge, commercial, money-spinning business, whilst the complete and utter silence, from our Christian leaders for one, regarding the slaughter of thousands of innocent civilian men, women and children remains a state secret.

So, if I say the only thing that would excite me was a world devoid of all wars, I appreciate that I am swimming against the tide, yet again.

Peter Mahoney Reawla Hayle