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-   -   Bomber Command memorial defaced - fallout from Woolwich execution? (https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/515740-bomber-command-memorial-defaced-fallout-woolwich-execution.html)

thing 27th May 2013 21:33

Very very sad; I hope all those near WO Radcliffe will lend some support. It's a changing country and I suppose the rally call is to change with it but there are surely some basic standards that we can all adhere to?

Men like Mr Radcliffe were ordinary men in extraordinary circumstances who rose to the challenge; maybe we can too.

John Botwood 28th May 2013 09:14

Has anyone stood by W/O Radcliffe.

If not. Why not??

John Botwood

mmitch 28th May 2013 09:23

Being reported elsewhere that Mr Radcliffe was looked after by the RAF club and later returned home while the police kept watch. The RAFB who are responsible for the memorials upkeep will have to pay to have it cleansed.
mmitch.

snagged1 28th May 2013 09:59

Does anyone have a contact for who looks after the memorial please?

I will gladly go and clean the memorial - disgusting that it has not already been done (unless being used for evidence of course).

John Botwood 28th May 2013 10:01

mmitch

Thanks for that sir. Having not seen much in reference, I was compelled to enquire.

My age and position decide what I can do. 18 hours in a Shack was alright all those years ago: but air travel in economy is a little too much.

Nice to see that the niceties were upheld.

Yours aye

JohnB

The B Word 28th May 2013 21:02

I note that the papers/media have produced a somewhat imbalanced report on all of this without mentioning the many Muslims that died for the Allies during WWI and WWII. For example, Noor Inayat Khan:


Noor Inayat Khan, a descendant of the legendary Tipu Sultan, was a secret agent in the Second World War. She was infiltrated into France by the Special Operations Executive (SOE), Churchill’s secret organisation that sought to “set Europe ablaze”.

Armed with only a false passport and a pistol, the beautiful and gentle Noor became the first woman radio operator to be sent to occupied Paris.

However, she was betrayed and captured by the Germans. Despite being repeatedly tortured and interrogated, she revealed nothing. She was executed by an SS officer on September 13, 1944, at Dachau Concentration Camp. She was only 30.

Britain posthumously awarded her the George Cross for her extraordinary bravery, and France honoured her with the Croix de Guerre.

The Noor Inayat Khan Memorial was successful in its campaign to install the memorial of Noor in Gordon Square. On 8 November 2012, HRH The Princess Royal unveiled the memorial at a moving ceremony attended by over 450 people, including Noor's family, veterans, M.Ps, peers, Ambassadors, High Commissioners and guests from India, USA, Germany, Netherlands, France and Russia. A special message from Noor's brother, Hidayat Inayat-Khan was read out. It has been a wonderful journey and we would like to thank everyone for it.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ayat_Khan.jpeg

Here is the very brave SOE agent, in RAF Uniform, before her sad and untimely death.

The failure by the media/press to mention the Muslim effort in these conflicts fighting on our side only serves to fuel the growing fire of hatred towards all Muslims...:ugh:

Like has been said elsewhere - there are nutcases in all religions!

The B Word

adminblunty 28th May 2013 21:26

Whilst this is a reprehensible act, I always wondered why the Bomber Command Memorial was located in Central London when Bomber Command HQ was at RAF High Wycombe. You know that place called Air Cmd now with the Spitfire and Hurricane outside and no mention of Bomber Command! Perhaps if the affected stone needs to be replaced (As suggested on Radio 4 this evening) the whole memorial should be moved to Air Cmd...

NutLoose 28th May 2013 21:29

The odd thing is far from dividing people, after the initial revulsion at the act, it seems to pull the people together from different races and religions in condemning it, so actually has the opposite effect to that they intended.

Basil 28th May 2013 21:40

I knew of and honour the memory of Noor Inayat Khan and am very glad to read that she now has a memorial in London. I hadn't been aware of that.

barnstormer1968 29th May 2013 07:47

I agree with Newt in post #13

I saw the memorial for the first time in March this year, and was very moved by its beauty and purpose.

This is a monument to some very brave men who gave their lives so that the world would be free from murder in the name of race and religion (some of the aircrew would have been Muslim) and this is just awful IMHO.

Daysleeper 29th May 2013 08:38


Perhaps if the affected stone needs to be replaced (As suggested on Radio 4 this evening) the whole memorial should be moved to Air Cmd.
While from time to time I dislike the London Centric nature of our country the centre of the capital is the right place for this memorial.

I would suggest that one of the purposes of its location is so that future generations will look on it and it will cause them perhaps to pause and reflect on the valour and sacrifice of so many.

I think (at least I hope) that all those in Air Command both now and in the future will understand that the costs of the decisions they make may be counted in lives, sometimes tens of thousands of them.

Whenurhappy 29th May 2013 09:02

"I knew of and honour the memory of Noor Inayat Khan and am very glad to read that she now has a memorial in London. I hadn't been aware of that."

And of course, there is a memorial to her in the Shower Block at KZ Dachau, and it generates a considerable amount of interest there.

SpannerInTheWerks 29th May 2013 09:27

It is more than likely that the perpetrator, irrespective of ethnic origin or religion, will be a British citizen.

This is the 'free World' for which the members of Bomber Command fought and died.

KR

SITW

Tankertrashnav 29th May 2013 12:01

I would disagree with any plan to move the memorial to High Wycombe - in any case I am sure that would completely impractical and prohibitively expensive.

Until 2004, policing of the Royal Parks was carried out by the Royal Parks Constabularly, who were separate from the Metropolitan Police. Since its disbandment, responsibility has passed to the Royal Parks Operational Command Unit of the Met. I sincerely hope that questions are being asked of this unit, and that they are taking steps to keep a closer eye on this important memorial. For a start it should be quite straightforward to have CCTV monitoring.

NutLoose 29th May 2013 12:26


Perhaps if the affected stone needs to be replaced (As suggested on Radio 4 this evening) the whole memorial should be moved to Air Cmd.
I wondered that myself at the time as Sandstone being porus the paint will soak into the stone and be nigh on impossible to remove...

Look at that other historical sandstone building vandalised, that had to be painted white after the Brits of old passed by and torched the place, the soot and smoke had soaked into the stone around the windows and doors which was impossible for them to remove....
Ohh and the place the British vandalised way back in August 1814

http://b.vimeocdn.com/ps/935/935133_300.jpg

Here endeth the history lesson :8

TEEEJ 30th May 2013 00:41

Islam graffiti yob on CCTV at Bomber Command war memorial | The Sun |News

Torque Tonight 5th Jun 2013 14:42

Vandalised a second time
 
Vandals hit RAF Bomber Command Memorial again - Crime - London24

Perhaps the police can spare a couple of bobbies to pound the beat in Piccadilly, or are they all to busy providing bodyguards for that poisonous extremist across town. :ugh:

Basil 5th Jun 2013 18:10

Vile graffiti vandals attack Bomber Command memorial AGAIN | UK | News | Daily Express

The RAF Bomber Command War Memorial in Green Park, London has been painted with the words: "LEE RIGBY KILLERS SHUD HANG".
No matter which side the perp is on, he is a prat of the first water.

NutLoose 5th Jun 2013 19:14

Is that what it says?..... Sigh..... why deface a superb and stunning tribute that was hard fought for, not just during the war, but in the subsequent fundraising to finally and dare I say it belatedly, get a fitting monument to these people we owe so much too....

I do hope the catch the illiterate scrote that did this and make him fully pay for the repairs and then jail him.
One does wonder how these folks would have faired if we had lost the war and we were now part of the so called Third Reich.

My worry is if these folks will see this memorial as a billboard that gets them and their agenda noticed and it becomes frequent, hence the pay and prison to deter others.



..

smujsmith 5th Jun 2013 20:59

Nutloose,

I second your views, any attempt to make a "special" case of this vandalism will only make this hard won memorial a bigger target for all and sundry angry people. Surely in an age when a government can give priority to blokes marrying blokes etc, they can find time to push through a law that penalises, heavily, anyone defacing public monuments and memorials. What happens if and when these idiots, whoever they are, get in to the NM Arboretum at Alrewas ? Whatever, I think that this sort of thing is fairly new so needs nipping in the bud big time. I won't hold my breath for any political priority for it though.

Smudge


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