Leatherhead shamed!

November 26th, 2007 Written by Biz

I was appalled to hear that injured war veterans, some of whom had suffered lost limbs and severe burns, were heckled and jeered as they partook of their once weekly hydrotherapy sessions at Leatherhead public baths in Surrey. Apparently, one lane of the baths was specially roped off for the veterans use and as they went through their rehabilitative routines, several members of the public shamed themselves and their town, by raising an outcry against said veterans.
 

One woman, it is reported, was so incensed at the veterans’ presence, that she personally told them that “they did not deserve to be there as they hadn’t paid, whereas she had”. Now I really don’t often condone violence (and never against women) but if the town of Leatherhead wants redemption, it really needs to see that people like this get a sound slapping.
 

Now of course, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan don’t have universal support here; indeed, I myself think that if the Government wanted a trumped up war so badly, it should have sent all the MP’s who supported it to go and fight it themselves. That of course, would never happen as they are already far too busy partaking in vicious, treacherous and deadly combat to ensure that their £64K minimum salaries, gold plated pensions and over-generous expense packages rise annually in inflation-dwarfing increments.
 

What everyone should realise though, is that our Servicemen are not personally synonymous with the causes of the wars that they engage in; they go wherever they are sent and engage in whatever action that they are ordered to take part in; whether that be fierce combat in Afghanistan or maintaining a remote garrison on the Orkney Isles. Whether you believe in the cause or not, they certainly shouldn’t be personally criticized…the inept self-serving incompetents that sent them to fight deserve the full force of our fulminations.
 

Our Servicemen though, whether fighting the Taliban, Al-Quaida or prejudice from imbeciles at home whose only experience of combat is fighting their way to the front of the bus queue, face an altogether more deadly and debilitating enemy than they realise…obscurity.
 

For all the brave deeds of our forces, for all their efforts and everything they went and will go through; history shows us that they and their existence will be forgotten…discarded on the scrapheap of political expediency, for once they have served their purpose and there is no more politic to be had from them, their memory will be left to vanish…like a leaf blown away in the Autumn wind.
 

Lest you think this unfounded cynicism, I ask you; how often do you recall the servicemen of the Falklands war? Who were the two VC winners of that war? How often do you remember the Balkans campaign, or the first Gulf War or even Northern Ireland? Even on the annual Remembrance Day parades, the post WW2 campaigns are barely mentioned in any detail…except for this year when there was some political mileage to be had from remembering the two current conflicts…but what about Palestine? The murder of our Servicemen there has been buried by political correctness, never to surface, save by contrarians like myself.
 

Should you come across any Servicemen then, remember; even if turning out to homecoming parades isn’t exactly your thing and even if you don’t agree with the wars, they deserve our respect for serving their country…just as their detractors deserve a hefty slap for being so disrespectful and shaming us all!
 

Post script:
For those that couldn’t remember; the two Falklands VC winners were Col Herbert Jones VC and Sgt Ian McKay VC…Resquiat in Pace.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

Entry Filed under: Rants & Views