Take a good look at this flag. This is OUR flag. The flag of the indigenous people of the United Kingdom. Beneath its colours, our ancestors have fought and died for it in its current form since the Union of Ireland and Great Britain in 1801.
That union along with the Union of Scotland in 1603 and the Wales Acts of 1535-1542 brought about one of the Greatest alliances in the world. The United Kingdom. Look at it again. Your Countrymen have died for this flag.
On the 6th of June 1944, my father – a proud Welshman, along with his regiment, ran up Sword Beach in Normandy. They were off the Beach in an hour and traveled inland towards Caen. There my father was to earn his Oak Leaf for being Mentioned in Despatches whilst also running into a burst of machine gun fire from the heavy resistance they encountered.
For my father the war was over and up until his recent demise he would never talk about the war unless really pushed after a few beers in the British Legion.
One summer when I was in my late teens, dressed in shirtsleeves, I asked my father about the origins of the tattoo on his left forearm. By now it was faded but still clearly a Union Jack. “Why?”, I asked, “would a Welshman have an English Flag tattooed on his arm”? There I received an history lesson.. “Its not an English Flag, its OUR flag, first I am Welsh, then I am British and this is the flag of the British – the flag of a United Britain...without each other, the English, the Scots, Irish and Welsh are nothing. Together we are great”. And that was my history lesson for the day finished with.
Now when I see the tactics the scum politicians make to divide the United Kingdom and the encouragement they give to organisations such as the wasteful Welsh Assembly and the almost continual insults aimed at the English then I wonder if my Fathers run up that beach was worth it. Well of course it was. It stiffens my resolve to fight for what is right.
So remember, it does not matter whether you are Scots, Irish, Welsh or English – you are still British. Do not let the enemy divide us. It is our Flag – let’s keep it always looking this way.
Come on ENGLAND.
Excellent post my friend,I agree with you 100%,the British nations have achieved so much together it is absurd to consider its breakup,the EU love the idea because we would be easier to control.Keep up the good work,I will pop in now and again,and,just like your father,NEVER SURRENDER.
ReplyDeletejust read your profile,you list The Cross of Iron as one of your favourite films,directed by Sam Peckinpah,excellent warfilm,really brings home the horror of the eastern front,brilliant film.
ReplyDeleteI sailed with Scotsmen, Welshmen and Irishmen and fellow Englishmen. We may have argued among ourselves but be in a foreign bar and some foreigners attacked one of us. They finished up facing all of us. Thats what a family is about. We are merged by marriage and great because of it.
ReplyDeleteSo long as the Union's an alliance of nations rather than a false identity trying to over-ride our own identities, it's a great thing. Thanks for writing something that finally made me understand the importance of the union.
ReplyDeleteIf I recall my history correctly, Caen was a bee-aye-itch of a battle. A belated thank-you to your father for what he did for all humanity!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the history lesson, too!
no. i am scottish.
ReplyDeleteWhy are BNPers standing in the Welsh elections -if they think the Assemblys wasteful?
ReplyDeleteA Welshman
Why are BNPers standing in the Welsh elections -if they think the Assemblys wasteful?
ReplyDeleteA Welshman
Because in a Democratic society you have to work with what you have got.
At least now, the voters of Wales have a real choice with the BNP.
What did you think on the article about "hideous white faces" - the opinion of Plaid?
A Welshman