Three of the eight members of the veteran and serving armed forces help form a commemorative feature inside the programme, discussing this love of Wolves, joining the army and how the two combine.
Below are their thoughts ahead of Molineux marking Remembrance Sunday, with the full feature available in Sunday’s programme, which is fronted by Romain Saiss and available for £3.50 from around Molineux.
MOLINEUX REMEMBERING
FORMER SERGEANT DENNIS JOHNSON
“It means a lot. It’s respect and I think we should respect everybody for their own opinion and what they think. I think it should never be forgotten, let’s put it that way. The more people respect it, the better. They gave their lives. We wouldn’t be walking free now if it wasn’t for those guys in the First and Second World War. We wouldn’t be walking the streets free like we do now, or we wouldn’t be speaking English – let’s put it that way.”
MAJOR WAYNE PICKEN
“It makes me immensely proud the fact that people respect what people have done, in order to allow them to be here, in pure security, with the ability to watch the match, with the freedom of movement we have. It’s an amazing feeling, that two-minute silence when people remember those that have been caught up in wars and conflicts, it’s great to see that we pay so much respect. Once we went to a two-minute silence people started the remember the fact that we are actually doing this for a reason, but I also think that the general public now are more actively involved in remembering people on Armistice Day because of the fact that it’s not just the military where it all started, there’s lots of people now in civilian street and civilian organisations that pay an equal sacrifice that we should be thankful for.”
CORPORAL GARY HICKMAN
“It’s amazing that we’re actually keeping a place like this quiet for two minutes. For being in the military and being one of 31,000 people in the stadium, actually thinking about the people being in the army. You haven’t got to stand around, banging the drum about being in the army, but when they’re standing here, they’re thinking about people in the army, it doesn’t matter where you are, you’re in the army. I appreciate that, and I think all people in the military, not just army, but Airforce, Navy, they all appreciate that, that on that day people are thinking about World War One and World War Two soldiers, as well as most recent lads who have sadly lost their lives, and those lads who are currently in the armed forces now for making those sacrifices. It’s amazing and appreciate it as well.”
The matchday programme is available from around Molineux on Sunday and previous editions can be purchased now here.
