Last updated at 17:08, Friday, 30 October 2009

WINSTON CHURCHILL

IT is self evident that the hijacking of iconic images such as Winston Churchill and the Supermarine Spitfire by the BNP in an attempt to legitimise their odious beliefs is as repugnant and insulting as is their habitual wrapping themselves in the Union Jack.

More eminent people than myself have made that point in the last few days far more eloquently than I ever could.

I particularly liked the line about courage on the battlefield being colour-blind.

However, it is typically dim-witted (and there is a delicious irony in the fact, given the BNP's attitude to immigrants) that the image of the Spitfire RF-D they have chosen to display is that of Squadron Leader Jan Zumbach DFC and Bar of No 303 Polish Fighter Squadron.

He was a World War Two Ace who fought bravely first in France and subsequently fom England for the duration of hostilities.

It seems the Poles have a habit of coming to Britain and making themselves useful!

I remember as a youth back in the 1960s seeing a reproduction of an anti-nazi poster produced in the 1930s.

It portrayed a toad sitting in a muddy pool under the slogan “The Voice From The Swamp – 3,000 years of inbreeding proves the superiority of the race”.

Whenever I see a picture of Nick Griffin I think of that poster.

I am moved to write this letter in memory of of my father and thousands like him who fought all over Europe with the RAF between 1939 and 1945 to ensure that people like the BNP did not overrun the planet. Please remember this at the next elections.

JOHN KELLY

Queen Street

Ulverston

First published at 13:13, Friday, 30 October 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk