Hall of Heroes

We live in a world where celebrity is king, where success is judged by the amount of followers you have on social media. Actors, singers, athletes alike, everyone wants a piece of their of their favourite hero. But no matter how much records you sell, Oscar winning films you make, classic novels you write, medals you win there will always be a quiet hero from WW2 who outshines them all like .

Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown is one such man. He sadly passed away recently after reaching the grand age 97 (as it should be, heroes should live long). Captain Brown has an achievement that truly can be called awesome.
2,407 deck landings at sea and 2,721 catapult launches. He flew every major combat aircraft of WW2 including gliders, fighters, bombers, airliners, amphibians, flying boats and helicopters,. nd his contribution to aviation research covered transonic flight, assessment of German jets and rocket aircraft, rotary wing flight, and the first carrier decklanding of a jet aircraft.

Now if that doesn't impress you, nothing will.

To Drummer Lee Rigby

In Loving Memory

This blog will ignore the perpetrators of the truly barbaric murder that occurred on Wednesday. It will not even mention their names, they do not deserve an ounce of attention (sadly our media have given them more than enough but I realise its their job.) Instead this post will remember the victim, 25 year old Drummer Lee Rigby of 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
Rest easy soldier, tragically cut down way before your time. Your country mourns you and is forever in your debt. One of the most heart breaking tributes I read yesterday was a note left near the spot where he died. It was penned by one of the women who cradled the dying man and read:

"I held you as you died, Im so sorry I couldn't do more for you but you will live with me now for the rest of my life, in my heart Im sorry I couldn't do more and hope you are at peace."

Oh how the tears fell! Imagine the guilt and pain of someone who had no reason to feel guilty of anything? The horror of that situation, a kind soul wanting to give more but was unable because help was beyond the grasp of mortal hands. I still cannot read it without feeling a tear roll down my cheek and as well as sending best wishes to Drummer Rigby and his loved ones, I send the same to those three women who the nation, indeed the world, saw cradling this brave young soldier in his final moments.

Captain Alan Williamson, Adjutant Second Fusiliers said this of his comrade: "Riggers was a cheeky and humorous man, always there with a joke to brighten the mood." And you can clearly see this in the photograph. The sparkle is in his eyes, the 'cheekiness' playing around his mouth as if ready at any moment to crack a joke. One of the good guys, you can tell.

Rest in peace and much respect Drummer Rigby, a nation mourns you.

Halo Of Death

Thrill Kill?

In the Mail today there is a story about the Navy SEAL who killed Osama Bin Laden. Got no problem so far. Until I scroll to the middle part of the story and im faced with this;
"'That time I used my EOTech red-dot holo sight. He was dead. Not moving. His tongue was out. I watched him take his last breaths, just a reflex breath.
'And I remember as I watched him breathe out the last part of air, I thought: Is this the best thing I've ever done, or the worst thing I've ever done? This is real and that's him. Holy sh**. 'His forehead was gruesome. It was split open in the shape of a V. I could see his brains spilling out over his face."

Heavens to Betsy Ross! He sounds like he actually enjoyed it! Was there need to be so graphic in the details? Who on earth wants to read such grim descriptions? Go read a Mo Hayder novel if that is your thing, she's quite brilliant in her own deviant way at painting grisly scenes of gore and brain spillage (and thats not criticism, im a big Mo fan.)
In this last decade or so it seems to be the done thing for ex military to reveal all in their memoirs but must we know everything? Is the public really desperate to learn about brains spilling over dying faces? I would have thought we get enough of that from Hollywood. And before readers begin to think im some yoghurt knitting liberal, I am not (in fact im as far from liberal as you could ever hope to find,) im simply questioning the apparent need to mop up every bullet and drop of blood from the battlefield like some excitable teenager playing Call Of Duty.

For myself, Id prefer to be spared the details thank you very much. You know what they say, less is more.