Originally Posted by
Union Jack
I readily accept the input from of the preceding three posters and, without wishing to deviate too far from the thread's specific subject, simply felt as an underwater warrior that the significance of the Silent Service's continuous war patrols was worth a mention, *specifically* but not exclusively, in relation to the posts I indexed. "Other fighting forces are available" - and their supporters are of course just as welcome to mention them on the same principle, should they so wish.
SLXOwft - For your interest, I had the pleasure of knowing both Mrs Johnny Walker and her aviator son.
Jack
Jack, thanks.
I am sure you understand I was trying to forestall any unjustified inter service sniping.
As we both know the Walker’s son Timothy was lost with HM Submarine Parthian. I have nothing but admiration for commanders like ‘Shrimp’ Simpson, Wanklyn, and Tomkinson and the men who served under them. I equally admire the Bomber Command crews. I was lucky enough to know someone who indirectly worked for Harris. Of whom, he said, had some failings as a man but he had no doubts about the job Harris asked him to do as a pilot and later as a squadron CO.
In 1992 the rest of Europe was looking forward to travelling and trading without border controls and to the Euro. In a process that has no equivalent in human history we had successfully put the animosities of the past centuries behind us. Yet some idiots needed to erect a statue that symbolizes them more than hardly anything else? Weren't you ashamed?
Jenns,
No, I was proud. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
" As the philosopher George Santayana actually said.
I voted remain in the Brexit Referendum and would vote to re-join the EU. However, I consider the ECSC, EEC, EC and EU to have been consecutive beneficiaries of the peace, created by, what for Britain, was a pyrrhic victory, the Marshall Plan, and maintained by NATO, (initially) the occupation and denazification of Germany, and Nuclear Deterrence. This enabled the creation of widespread wealth which in turn supressed international rivalries. The erection of the Bomber Command memorial and a statue of MRAF Sir Arthur Harris Bt., GCB, OBE AFC were the righting of an historical wrong – their sacrifice and contribution to the defeat of tyranny had been ignored on the grounds of political expediency.
Historical events are often a matter of perspective, in a conversation with a Jens (funnily enough), who I worked with briefly, he stated he felt life was better under the DDR, in which he grew up. To paraphrase if you weren’t a political agitator the state looked after all your needs.
Political actions are often driven by expediency. “…If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that... ." Abraham Lincoln – the ‘heroic’ emancipator of US slaves in a letter to the New York Tribune, 22 August 1862. George Washington wished to free his slaves but didn’t in his lifetime partly because he was economically dependent on their labour. As an historian, to me the abolition of chattel slavery is a welcome fruit of the industrial revolution which had made it increasingly irrelevant to those who had political power. As with most historic changes the conditions have to be right and those in the right place get the credit.
Finally, a word on Field Marshal Haig. He was, for example, forced to launch the Somme offensive before he was ready in terms of training and quantity of artillery. This was due to a combination of political direction and to relieve the French whose position at Verdun was, in the declared opinion of Petain, about to collapse. Haig was always looking for new tactics and technology to improve the chances of a decisive victory and lessen casualties.
Apologies to all for the massive thread drift.