AN 83-YEAR-OLD former secret agent who claims to be the voice of fallen soldiers is backing the Evening Telegraph's Queen's Lancashire Regiment campaign.

Sigrid Green, from Darwen, was seconded to the Norwegian forces after joining the WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) in 1942.

She made a vital contribution to war efforts by helping infiltrate German sea patrols and relay vital information to military chiefs in London.

She said her male friends who served with regiments which were the forerunners of the QLR in the Second World War would "turn in their graves" if they new about defence secretary Geoff Hoon's plans, which could see the Queen's Lancashire Regiment re-named and re-shaped. The Evening Telegraph has launched a campaign urging Mr Hoon to preserve the identity of Lancashire's last remaining regiment when he makes his decision in November.

More than 800 people have signed Evening Telegraph coupons backing the campaign since its launch last Thursday. Sigrid, of Richmond Terrace, said: "I think the lads would be devastated if there was no Queen's Lancashire Regiment.

"It is breaking a community bond, especially for my generation, because we lived through the war.

"It's a shame they are not here to join the campaign so I will speak out for them to save our special regiment. The Queen's Lancashire Regiment should definitely remain. If I was serving in a dangerous situation and I knew there was a neighbour from Lancashire next to me we would have a bond before we started. It is not something you have to build up, you're not strangers - you've got local pride."

Sigrid said all her male friends went into Lancashire regiments and she blames politics for the proposed changes, pinpointing Prime Minister Tony Blair as the main instigator.

She added: "He has one ambition and that is to make everything European - soon there will be no British army, it will all be European if something is not done to stop this."

"Everything that is decent and traditional has to be stopped and it seems to be happening in every walk of life. It's criminal to mess with tradition. Tradition is not old fashioned if it works and is used properly and the Queen's Lancashire Regiment is everything people hold dear.

"The defence of the country works and it shouldn't be messed about with. It works because of tradition so why change it?"