Armed forces and veterans' day proposed

Britain's armed forces and veterans should be celebrated in an annual day of parades and special events, a government-commissioned study into raising public awareness of the military said on Monday.

Other proposals included encouraging service personnel to wear their uniforms in public, expanding cadet forces in comprehensive schools and holding more homecoming parades for returning troops.

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The study said the Armed Forces Day should take place on a Saturday at the end of June, so that children and working adults could attend events.

Sporting events on the day could also "acquire a military flavour", the report said.

Prime Minster Gordon Brown asked Conservative MP Quentin Davies to conduct the study last December to find the a way of build greater public understanding and appreciation of the armed services.

Public support for the military remains high, with troops on active service in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, but knowledge of what it does is falling, the report said, creating a potentially dangerous divide.

"The military ... have become increasingly separated from civilian life and consciousness," it said.

"The armed forces can only operate with maximum motivation and effectiveness if they are both morally and materially supported by the society they are defending," it added.

The threat of attacks from Irish paramilitaries in the 1970s and 1980s virtually ended the wearing of uniforms in public, although restrictions were subsequently relaxed.

In March it emerged that RAF personnel had been told not to wear uniform in parts of Peterborough, after consultation with police, because of abuse of some service staff by members of the public.

The Ministry of Defence said it welcomed the report, and would respond in detail to its 40 recommendations.