TONY SAVAGE,
Madam, - Writing for a predominantly Irish readership, Kevin Myers chooses in Winston Churchill a fairly soft target for his invective (An Irishman's Diary, December 11th). However, as an Englishman, perhaps I may be permitted to offer an alternative view.
In the early days of the second Word War (which the Irish are pleased to call the "Emergency"!) I was a very small boy living in London. Nightly, from within our back-garden bomb shelter, I would listen to German bombs raining down upon our neighbourhood, and the next day would make my way to school, often passing the resultant carnage.
When invasion seemed a certainty, I remember my father (a first World War veteran who had no doubt seen something of the behaviour of invading armies) trying very gently to prepare me for what life would be like under occupation. What he did not say, and what I have come to realise since, was that with a Jewish grandmother, I would very likely soon have ended my life in one of Herr Hitler's cosy extermination camps.
That we were not invaded may have been a lucky accident. Churchill may or may not have been a great tactician or strategist. Who am I to judge?
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. What is certain, however, is that Winston Churchill's defiance and towering oratory, as the country's leader in those dark days, were exactly what was needed for the time and united the nation wonderfully in a steely resolve to defeat the enemy.
I know. I was there. - Yours, etc.,
TONY SAVAGE,
Kilpierce,
Co Wexford.