Interview: Lt Gen James Bashall speaks about life and military career ahead of upcoming talk in Kingsclere

A special guest will be giving a talk in Kingsclere next week.

Retired Lt Gen James Bashall will be speaking about his 34-year military career, spanning multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus his four years as national president of the Royal British Legion at The Fieldgate Centre next Friday (April 4).

Mr Bashall was born and educated in Marlborough and currently lives in Warminster, Wiltshire.

Newburytoday interviewed him for an idea of what visitors can expect to hear at his talk.

He said: “I did 13 operational tours. I have lost a lot of people serving with me. And I know a lot of veterans who have been badly damaged.

“We have this dreadful issue trying to curtail the number of men and women killing themselves.”

The UK regular armed forces saw a declining trend in male suicide rates from the 1990s, according to Ministry of Defence data released in April 2024.

But it added the number of army male suicides has increased since 2017, with the risk of suicide mirroring numbers for the UK general population for the first time since the mid-1990s.

When asked if he thinks the UK is ready to rehabilitate and support its armed forces in the event of another war, Mr Bashall responded: “If you look at the time I was in Iraq in 2005, we had this awful situation because we closed all the military hospitals.

“The rehabilitation process was not good enough for modern casualties.

“And so there is the potential, if we were to be involved in anything significant in Europe, most of our resources across the medical sphere would struggle to cope if there were large numbers of casualties.”

The Iraq War was Britain’s first major conflict since the then government closed its military hospitals.

Repatriated injured soldiers were separated and treated at public hospitals around the country, a decision which exposed system-wide failings, according to the Chilcot report.

“There's still deep reliance on the charitable sector to provide the aftercare for those who are damaged,” Mr Bashall added. “It's not all picked up by the state. In fact, far from it.”

Mr Bashall also addressed the RBL’s role in supporting veterans historically and now and what it can do to ensure its survival for future generations.

He added: “One of the observations I’ve often made is with the branches that are very successful, it is due to leadership.

“It’s the drive of local people to promote and encourage local people to use the Legion.

“Undoubtedly, the numbers of branches and members is dropping as time goes on.”

Mr Bashall conceded the Legion still struggles to shed misconceptions of being a charity exclusively aimed at veterans of the world wars.

On this point, he said: “There was a concern when we had the centenary of the end of the World War One, that this would be seen as a bit of a cliff edge. And in fact, it hasn't been.

“But there is still a sense the Legion is for older people and that it’s still largely associated with perhaps World War Two or even National Service veterans.

“It’s a difficult image to move forward from because so much of the Legion is orientated around the poppy and the end of the First World War.

“But many people forget the Legion was formed by those veterans to fight for justice for those who were left behind. Not just the wounded, but also the families.”

Speaking about the other reason the Legion was founded, he added: “Prior to World War One, there were very few memorials for individual soldiers and sailors.

“There were, of course, memorials to generals and admirals, such as Nelson’s Column.

“But many of Wellington’s dead from Waterloo were just buried in makeshift graves and no one knew who was there.

“So, at the end of World War One, there was a huge determination that everyone's name would never be forgotten. And that’s when we saw all the memorials being erected across the whole country.”

Tickets for Mr Bashall’s talk cost £5 (plus booking fee) and are still available to buy at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/booking/init/FHGHGHK

The talk is being organised by the Kingsclere Royal British Legion and Kingsclere Local History Association.