 | | Lance Corporal Benjamin Hyde (detail) |
鈥淲e were asked if we wanted to submit a photograph of our son Ben to include him in the project, which we were quite happy to do. Treasured lives 鈥淪eeing the exhibition for the first time gave us mixed feelings really. We鈥檇 already met some of the families but looking through the stamps, the number of soldiers, really brings home to you how many people have been lost over there. "But to see the stamps in Manchester Central Library gives you a sense that they are a part of history and you know that they will be remembered. It is something that is going to be treasured. A lasting reminder 鈥淚t was interesting to see the project brought together and it was good to meet Steve McQueen. He came across as a genuine warm person who really wanted to raise awareness of the loss of our service personnel. 鈥淎fter listening to him talk about the project, I thought that his idea to make the stamps official was tremendous. | "We lost a soldier a couple of days ago and I听don鈥檛 think it made the front page of most international papers." | | John Hyde |
"His concept that people read about the soldier one day in the paper and then forget them is true. He wanted to provide a lasting reminder, so that every day, when people got their post, they would see the faces of the soldiers who'd sacrificed their lives for their country. One for all 鈥淚 am in favour of the campaign to get the stamps made. When they first when into Iraq in 2003, when my son and his comrades were killed, it made international headlines. "We lost a soldier a couple of days ago and I听don鈥檛 think it made the front page of most international papers. It has become common place now and it does not have the same effect. Each soldier's life is worth the same as another and they should be remembered." Original image of Lance Corporal Benjamin Hyde is reproduced with the kind permission of the family. | 
