SIR – I was so pleased to see that one of your regular contributors Mr D S Boyes (Letters, June 16) apparently thinks, like I do, that the history of two world wars is not a subject for entertainment, albeit well meant.

I have complained before about the trivialisation of those conflicts and the suffering that followed, and have often wondered what motivates those who, for example, stage so-called re-enactments.

Nothing could adequately convey the sheer terror of those cowering in their trenches waiting for the order to advance towards the machine guns.

But in donning period uniforms and picking up authentic replica weapons, are they subconsciously trying to put from their minds the emotion summed up by Samuel Johnson some 300 years ago?

He said: “Every man thinks meanly of himself who has not been a soldier or served at sea.”

Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley