Former RAF Man, 69, Attacked by "Asians"

A very disturbing story is reported in today's Daily Mail:

An ex-serviceman wearing an RAF jacket was attacked by thugs who shouted at him 'Bomb the soldiers! Death to the soldiers!'

The 69-year-old was punched and headbutted by two Asian or mixed-race attackers who spotted him in military uniform.

Paramedics took the veteran to hospital after he was left with bruising, black eyes and an injured nose following the early evening attack.

The youths, aged between 17 and 20, shouted offensive remarks about soldiers at the white-haired pensioner and then attacked him when he responded.

The incident happened in Sherwood Street, Fallowfield, Manchester, police revealed today.

Officers today released a shocking picture of the bruised victim in a hospital bed with two black eyes after the attack.

Police Constable Michael Seddon, who is investigating the incident, said: 'This was a mindless and brutal attack on a vulnerable member of the community.

'The victim was left extremely shaken and he is still recovering from his injuries.'

One of the attackers was described as of stocky build, 5ft 6in tall, had thin braided hair and was wearing dark clothing.

The second man was chubby, 5ft 4in tall, had short shaved black hair and was wearing dark clothing.

The two men fled the scene on bicycles.

The ex-serviceman, who was wearing a poppy, was attacked on November 1 but police have only just released information about the incident.

Ah yes, the classic pattern.

Our heroic cultural enrichers even prefer to attack a man who is nearly 70 in pairs, just in case. I'd like to see them try their luck with some current serving soldiers - but then that would require real courage, rather than hate-filled bravado.

The response of the police is also typical; the attack was certainly brutal, but in no way was it "mindless" - it sounds as if the scum in question knew exactly what they were doing and why they were doing it.

Obviously, it would require too many uncomfortable questions to be asked for the average modern public servant to actually come to terms with that reality - so they stick to spouting meaningless drivel, which is genuinely "mindless."

Will this be being treated as a hate crime? After all, if an Englishman can now be convicted and fined for insulting Allah because certain types of blasphemy apparently have a hate crime element, surely New Brits attacking old soldiers because of what they represent to the nation could be viewed similarly?

I have a terrible feeling that this will be swept under the carpet, however. Nothing to see here, no useful lessons to be learned - just another day in our multicultural paradise, where those who have served us and defended us are abused and attacked in the street. After all, they're generally hideously white; it's not as if they're important or special in any way.

RAF Man Refused Taxi by Aggressive "Asian" Driver

Ironically this story was published in the Yorkshire Post on Remembrance Day, but I suppose seeing as there are now vast numbers of people in Yorkshire and elsewhere who either don't know what that is or are actively hostile to it, that's not overly important.

Here's the full story:

AN inquiry is underway after an RAF serviceman was refused a cab by an Asian taxi driver in Sheffield who objected to his uniform.

The 24-year-old serviceman who had been at a family wedding ceremony in his RAF "blues" was turned away from the black cab by the driver who apparently became aggressive.

Sheffield City Council, the RAF and the local taxi association are now investigating amid calls for the driver to be sacked.
....

The incident happened last Saturday after Kevin Burke's daughter got married at Sheffield Register Office.

Mr Burke, 46, a part-time lecturer from Sheffield, did not want to reveal his son's name who is from the city but is based in Scotland, for security reasons.

But he said he wants the authorities to take action.

He said: "My wife and my son went to get a taxi near the town hall after the ceremony to go on to the reception.

"When the cab pulled up they were about to get in when the driver said he wasn't letting my son in because he was in uniform.

"My wife asked him for a reason and the driver became quite aggressive in turning them down. He made it quite clear it was because my son was in the forces.

"Being a professional my son just turned his back and walked away and they hailed a private taxi to get to the reception.

"It is totally disgusting. The driver did not give an opinion but made it apparent he did not like servicemen.

"If you are providing a public service you should not refuse people like my son. He is fighting for his country after all."

Even the local taxi drivers are incensed at what happened.

A spokesman for the local black cab drivers said: "It is not needed. These servicemen and women protect our way of life. They put their lives at risk for this nation. To be treated like that is unbelievable."

Sheffield City Council said: "On the face of it is disappointing and disheartening."

What I find "disappointing and disheartening" is the typical disconnect between the reaction to this story and actual reality.

The government has encouraged vast numbers of people who can't assimilate to settle in this country, many of whom will actually actively despise it for good measure.

Local authoritues such as Sheffield City Council have exacerbated the situation with official policies about "multiculturalism" and "celebrating diversity" which further encourages such immigrants to not even bother trying to fit in.

Couple this with a knee-jerk hatred of their own history and culture instilled in many British people, plus fairly severe sanctions against anyone who dares to speak out in favour of common sense, and this is the result.

Why is anyone surprised?

More importantly, why are British soldiers fighting and dying in Afghanistan when they face this from Muslims in their own country?

Shouldn't the enemy within, the enemy we're enabling in every way we can, be our primary concern?

Remembrance Day

Yesterday The Telegraph published the obituary of Wing Commander Jack Rose, who died on 10th October 2009 aged 92.

W.C. Rose was one of the few British pilots to survive action on both the first and last days of the Second World War.

In the spirit of Remembrance Day, a day to give thanks to and remember all those who have either fought or given their lives for this country, I have reproduced the tribute here.

On May 14 1940 the German Blitzkrieg broke through the Allied lines at Sedan despite the efforts, and sacrifices, of the RAF light bomber forces. The six fighter squadrons of the RAF component of the British Expeditionary Force were hard pressed to keep the German bombers and their fighter escorts from attacking British and French ground forces. Fighter reinforcements were requested and Rose flew one of the Hurricanes sent to Merville to reinforce No 3 Squadron.

He was in action immediately and on the 15th he shared in the destruction of a Messerschmitt Bf 109 as the air battle reached its climax. For the next few days the Hurricane squadrons operated at maximum intensity. During the afternoon of the 18th Rose intercepted a lone Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighter over Douai and shot it down. A few hours earlier, his elder brother Tommy, of No 56 Squadron, had been shot down and killed in his Hurricane.

The following day Rose attacked a Heinkel 111 and closed to within a few yards to shoot the bomber's port engine. Oil from the engine covered the windscreen of his Hurricane so he climbed away, slowed the aircraft down to almost stalling speed, loosened his harness, stood on his seat and leant out of the cockpit in an attempt to clean the windscreen. As he did, tracer from an enemy fighter hit his aircraft.

Seeing Rose standing in the cockpit, the German pilot claimed he had shot down the Hurricane, but Rose managed to break away. His aircraft was badly damaged but he managed a forced landing at a forward airfield where the aircraft was destroyed.

Orders were given to evacuate the Hurricanes on the 20th. Without an aircraft, Rose joined others on a French transport and was flown to England. In the 10 days of the air war, No 3 Squadron lost seven pilots killed with another taken prisoner. A further nine Hurricanes were lost.

Jack Rose was born on January 18 1917 at Blackheath, London, and was educated at Shooters Hill School before studying Science at University College London where he represented the university at rugby. He joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in October 1938, completing his training as a fighter pilot just before the outbreak of war.

After returning from France, Rose joined No 32 Squadron and moved to Biggin Hill on August 22 as the Battle of Britain intensified. On the morning of the 25th, each pilot was issued with a pack of fluorescence, a greenish-yellow dye in powdered form, to sew on their life jacket. A pilot floating in the sea would leave a vivid stain on the surface of the water to attract searching aircraft.

While waiting at dispersal for the next scramble, Rose borrowed an outsize needle and passed the time sewing on the pack to his life jacket. Shortly afterwards, his flight was scrambled and six Hurricanes intercepted a formation of 12 Dornier 215s at 12,000ft. Rose opened fire on a bomber but an escorting Bf 109 attacked him and his aircraft was hit and became uncontrollable. He was forced to bale out, landing in the Channel.

After floating for two hours a searching aircraft from his squadron spotted the trail left by the coloured dye in the water. A ship was directed to him and he was rescued. A fellow pilot who had not sewn on his fluorescence pack also landed in the sea but was not found. Rose remained convinced that the pack had saved his life.

Rose moved to Exeter and flew many sweeps over northern France with Czech and Polish squadrons, and in October 1942 he was awarded the DFC for his courage and devotion to duty. He assumed command of No 184 squadron with Hurricanes, and a year later the squadron was re-equipped with the rocket-firing Typhoon. He attacked a wide variety of targets including shipping, coastal defences, flying bomb sites and marshalling yards.

The squadron was heavily involved in the build-up to the invasion of Normandy. At the end of June 1944, Rose led the squadron to a recently constructed landing ground near Caen allowing the Typhoons to range deeper into France where they caused a great deal of damage to German tanks and motor transports.

By the end of July, Rose had been in command of No 184 for over a year and was rested. Later in the year, he was sent to Burma to command a Hurricane squadron providing close air support for General Slim's 14th Army as it advanced on Rangoon. After the Japanese surrender he went to Penang to assist with the repatriation of the recently released Allied prisoners of war. By the end of the conflict Rose was one of the very few pilots to survive having been operational on both the first and last days of the war.

After his release from the RAF in 1946, he joined the Colonial Service. He served as a district officer in the Barotseland district of Northern Rhodesia before being promoted to district commissioner in the Kalabo region on the Angolan border. In 1950 he was appointed private secretary to the governor and three years later worked in London. He returned to Northern Rhodesia in 1956 when he was district commissioner of the Kaloma district before transferring to Lusaka where he was attached to the Police Special Branch. After two years he moved to the Chingola district, which included one the world's largest copper mines.

In 1960 Rose was seconded to be the first administrator of the Cayman Islands, where he spent four years. He commissioned a draft company law which was approved in London, passed in the island's legislature, and became law in December 1961. It provided, among other things, for "exempt companies" and very soon led to the tax haven status of the islands and a huge growth in their economy.

In 1963 Rose was appointed deputy governor of British Guiana (now Guyana). His tour was cut short at the end of 1964 when his wife became very ill.

Between 1964 and early 1979, when he finally retired, Rose immersed himself in voluntary work. The care and interest in people he had always shown throughout his careers was of particular value during his work with the Citizen's Advice Bureau in Devon and later in Oxfordshire. He was the honorary treasurer of the Red Cross in Oxfordshire. For four years from 1975 he was secretary of the Salmon and Trout Association. He was appointed MBE in 1954 and CMG in 1963.

Jack Rose, who died on October 10, was well organised, erudite and immensely knowledgeable on a wide range of topics. He married Margaret Budd in 1940. She died early in 1966. Two years later he married his sister-in-law Betty who survives him with two sons from his first marriage.

Rest in peace, Wing Commander.

Although it would be a stretch to say that modern Britain upholds the things you fought so valiantly for and is worthy of the sacrifices of you and your comrades, some of us remember, and look forward to a day when our country might be worthy of you once more.

God Bless all those who have fought and died for our country and its allies; my thoughts today are particularly with those currently serving, and the relatives of those lost to us so recently.

The Great Escape

In March 1944, 'Harry', one of the many tunnels built by interred Allied airmen in Stalag Luft III in Żagań, Poland was completed satisfactorily. The events that followed, by all measures courageous and tragic, would become the stuff of legend - spawning the film 'The Great Escape'.

Many of the US airmen who helped to build the tunnel were transferred just before it was considered safe, so on the evening of 24th March 1944 - a moonless night, therefore considered most desirable - 76 men managed to escape from German captivity, many of them all too briefly.

The tunnel came up short of the pine forest it was supposed to lead into, but 76 prisoners managed to go through it and emerge outside the camp before the 77th man was spotted by a guard and stopped at 5 am on 25th March.

The 76 men who escaped comprised 21 British, 6 Canadians, 6 Poles, 5 Australians, 3 South Africans, 2 Dutchmen, 2 New Zealanders, 2 Norwegians, a Belgian, a Greek, a Lithuanian, a Czech and a Frenchman.

Of these men, 73 were recaptured; the only ones to reach Allied territory and safety were the 2 Norwegians, Per Bergsland and Jens Müller, and one of the Dutchmen, Bram van der Stok.

It is said that Hitler initially ordered all of the 73 men who were found shot, but relented under pressure from Goering. As it was, 50 were still murdered, selected by General Artur Nebe.

17 of the survivors were sent back to Stalag Luft III, 2 to another PoW camp, whilst 4 were sent to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp to be worked to death. However, they managed to escape again, tunneling past double electric-fences, razor wire and specially trained guards, although they were recaptured.

They included Sydney Dowse, who died in April 2008 and 'Jimmy' James, who died in January 2008.

A small ceremony took place earlier at the site of the camp, in memory of the brave men who died.

These men and thousands like them encapsulate the spirit of this country, its history and our civilisation. They refused to give up their status as free men and submit to tyranny, no matter what the personal cost.

May they rest in peace.