When I started this thread nearly 3 years ago it was to ask a simple, factual question involving a Labrador dog whose name is part of history and cannot be changed in retrospect. Quote: I happened to be at Scampton yesterday. I went by Nigger's grave in front of the old 617 hangar. I was surprised to see that the inscribed plate with Nigger's details was missing, leaving just the rough slab. Does anyone know what has happened to it? Is it being cleaned, or is there something more sinister?
My simple question "Why was his gravestone missing?" was soon answered: "It was being cleaned."
End of story, but no, it has been exploited by both sides in a dispute that has nothing to do with my starting the thread. Although anyone with any sense knows that the unfortunate dog's name has taken on another connotation since, we are here talking about a 617 squadron mascot in the 1940s, and nothing else. Whether he was buried with due respect or dumped in a ditch by some unhappy airman is irrelevent, as is the subsequent misuse of his name.
Laurence