TWO events yesterday served to illustrate once again how collectively we let down those who put their lives on the line – or indeed sacrifice them, in the service of Queen and country.

One of the most damning reports into a military incident has now laid bare the 2006 Nimrod disaster which claimed 14 Royal Air Force personnel including Flight Lieutenant Leigh Mitchelmore of Highcliffe.

The report outlines an astonishingly cavalier attitude in the military, the MoD and the private sector which declared the ageing wreck of a plane fit to fly when it was clearly not airworthy and in need of basic safety modifications. Cost cutting cost lives. It was preventable.

Meanwhile, also yesterday, the D-Day plaque was finally restored to its rightful place on Poole Quay as a public tribute to those who took part in the 1944 Normandy landings.

It’s been a shameful insult to all those involved that the plaque has been stuffed away for years after being taken down when redevelopment began in 2000.

It’s some small consolation that it is back in time for Remembrance Day.

But the Nimrod report and the plaque fiasco simply serve to highlight how we have failed to cover ourselves in glory when it comes to honour-ing the dead and injured from all conflicts.

We should all make an extra effort to comm-emorate Armistice Day this year. Not least because of a dreadful year in Afghanistan.