Fighting on

DAVID Stirling Brown is just one veteran. But the 39-year-old has serious injuries, like thousands of other servicemen and women who have risked their lives in the heat and dust of Iraq and Afghanistan. That's why anything that helps them adapt to the demands of life on civvy street is good for the whole of society.

Lance Corporal Stirling Brown's work placement at the Royal Armouries

is just the type of scheme of which we should see more. The former medieval armourer and Territorial Army soldier, who was deployed from the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry to the Queen's Dragoon Guards, was left with leg and back problems after suffering terrible crush injuries from an accident in Afghanistan.

Now he has been given a fresh start through the Return to Work Initiative as his recovery continues. In helping the museum to audit its collection, L/Cpl Stirling Brown is playing a vital role in preserving its treasures for future generations.

Britain's soldiers, sailors and airmen should be welcomed in any workplace. It is especially satisfying, however, to see one of them given a chance to pursue his passion at the end of his military career. Society must never forget the debt it owes to these heroes.