Dignity

  

We have a neighbour who is a (now retired) Major in the Blues and Royals, a regiment of the Household Cavalry. When he. was about to be sent to Afghanistan at the height of the war on terror, his mother came to Sunninghill to have dinner with him and his wife before he left for his tour of duty. His wife told me that his mother said to him “You might die.” He was sent to a very dangerous place in Helmand Province; so much so that all supplies were flown in by helicopters travelling low and at speed, and dropped by parachute. When a British Minister came to visit, the troops were to have a special breakfast of eggs and bacon, but alas the parachute failed to open and the eggs arrived ready-scrambled. Fortunately, my neighbour did not die, and he never mentioned any colleague who was killed, but he did visit wounded comrades in hospital in Birmingham. According to the BBC the rate of casualties (but, of course, not the absolute number) of British soldiers was higher than that of the US military.

 

The reason for telling you this anecdote is that today’s news in the UK is dominated by remarks made by President Trump in an interview with Fox News, that NATO troops did not serve on the front line in Afghanistan. Mr. Trump contends that we Europeans are cowards who have been protected by the USA, but have never done anything to support America. Our Prime minister has called the remarks “insulting and frankly appalling,” and added that if he has “misspoken in that way … I would certainly apologise.”

 

At a dinner in Oxford last night a visiting professor from the USA brought up Mr. Trump’s behaviour. Those of us who had spent time in the USA (in my case over some forty years) agreed that the default behaviour of Americans is an innate courtesy, but not, it seems, of the present President nor of his colleagues in government. This morning I was reminded of an old friend (now deceased) Colonel Robert Nichols, who is buried in Arlington Cemetery, and of his daughter who served in the army like her father. Bob believed without qualification that it was his duty to uphold the honour and dignity of America’s armed forces. I do not doubt that he would have been appalled by his current Commander-in-Chief’s lack of dignity and innate moral coruption, and of his Secretary of War, and other government officials.