tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10815380.post8177017913260396650..comments2024-03-14T12:42:51.995+00:00Comments on Chris Whiteside's Blog: Harry Patch RIPChris Whitesidehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02888720969479013951noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10815380.post-7800120196706961882009-08-11T11:24:58.247+01:002009-08-11T11:24:58.247+01:00This is a fitting epitaph to a brave hero. He wil...This is a fitting epitaph to a brave hero. He will be sorely missed, but must live on in our memories. I do not share your honour of meeting Mr Patch, but in his television interviews he impressed me with the immensity of his dignity and fortitude. <br /><br />One cannot begin to imagine the painful memories, which must have haunted Mr Patch’s dreams or the depth of the mourning for numerous fallen comrades. Having never been near a battlefield it would be presumptuous to think I could empathise with his experience. We owe it to posterity to attempt to fully understand the sacrifices made by this generation. My late paternal grandfather, Sergeant Thomas De Loughry of the Royal Horse Artillery, was buried alive by a shell, which caused the dug out roof to collapse. He was trapped for three days with a dead comrade and another who went mad. On the third day another shell blew the collapsed dug out away and he helped his comrade out. The shell-shocked man never recovered and spent the rest of his life in a mental institution. My grandfather, ever loyal, continued to visit the hospital until his comrade died. <br /><br />I suspect Mr Patch’s consciousness, like that of my late grandfather was illuminated by the bigger picture. The need when it comes to the crunch to resist the encroachment of tyranny. When WW2 started my grandfather was disappointed to be told that he was too old to join up again. Seeing the dangers of fascism, he left Ireland to become a farm labourer in England, so he could contribute to the war effort that way. <br /><br />Harry Patch and his comrades in arms, who passed on before him must never be forgotten nor must the debt that all lovers of liberty owe them.<br /><br />My they rest in peace.Janehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08958602131624708136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10815380.post-21756274012139305632009-08-08T15:27:47.497+01:002009-08-08T15:27:47.497+01:00If you live nearby you know how to get hold of me....If you live nearby you know how to get hold of me. I would be prepared to take you up on an invitation to visit a local shooting club.Chris Whitesidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02888720969479013951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10815380.post-70878155371623241692009-07-31T21:34:40.663+01:002009-07-31T21:34:40.663+01:00Because the nazis lost does not mean it is not goi...Because the nazis lost does not mean it is not going to happen again.<br />A population that is disarmed is so much more pliable than a populus that will fight back, put yourself in a situation, imagine a situation, people are being moved, you do not know where they are going, but you know you will be caught soon, just at what point do you fight back?<br />The nazis starting getting dispondent when the Jews started fighting back in the Warsaw ghetto,<br />Firearms are the very last resort against a government that thinks it can get away with mass murder, and more.<br />You must ask yourself why does EVERY left, and left of centre government start by disarming the people?<br />I realise you live close to me, and would like to invite you to a gun club local to you.<br />I am currently setting up a web site to campaign to get pistol shooting back in the U.K. The idea is to get every pistol shooter (those who shot, and those who would like to) to join their local Conservative party and pledge to vote for them only when a promise of the return of shooting is in the offing.FireForcehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17272793024367993465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10815380.post-57785158908068936462009-07-28T20:50:33.031+01:002009-07-28T20:50:33.031+01:00Because the Nazis were defeated in World War II th...Because the Nazis were defeated in World War II this country did not come under the control of a regime which wanted to put those people in gas chambers.<br /><br />Which is not to deny that the governments we have had make mistakes or that they should all be treated with scepticism.Chris Whitesidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02888720969479013951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10815380.post-65046538638631795702009-07-26T23:13:29.732+01:002009-07-26T23:13:29.732+01:00Well Chris I got you exactly where I need you, you...Well Chris I got you exactly where I need you, you walked right into my trap, for you a catch 22 type situation!<br />Let me quote you "is the freedom not to be put in a gas chamber,,,(many words)etc...<br />Yes commendable but the catch 22 situation is /was that the nazis in 1938 eliminated the (private ppossession) of firearms.<br />So how do I as someone who has been condemded to death or other survive when. <br />So what, I am saying is we can be put anywhere,, they want to put us providing they want to put us there, how do I stop them? well I do not because you have banned them!FireForcehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17272793024367993465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10815380.post-20671162094580920822009-07-26T15:48:24.206+01:002009-07-26T15:48:24.206+01:00A flip answer, but an accurate one, is the freedom...A flip answer, but an accurate one, is the freedom not to be put in a gas chamber if you were rude about the Nazis or if you were one of the many arbitrary groups of people Hitler didn't like. (Jews, gays, gypsies, Freemasons, mentally handicapped people, etc, etc, etc ...)<br /><br />They were also fighting for your freedom to come on sites like this one and say what you think.<br /><br />I do agree that there has been a huge reduction in individual liberty over the past couple of decades: I would say that state control over our lives has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished.<br /><br />On the specific point about guns I consider that the thousands of law-abiding people who were involved in shooting as a sport and always used their guns responsibly got a very raw deal after Dunblane.Chris Whitesidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02888720969479013951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10815380.post-3026307659037383332009-07-26T12:45:04.588+01:002009-07-26T12:45:04.588+01:00Fact, The Conservative government under John Major...Fact, The Conservative government under John Major, and Michael Howard, banned full-bore pistol shooting, but also made .22 pistol shooting so regulated that only one pistol club could have operated in the U.K.<br />Yes the labour government did then ban .22 pistol shooting, but the damage was already done, damage that we could not recover from. <br />I as a life time Conservative member, last voted in 1992, since then I have abstained from voting,becaues of this issue, then times that by the 100,000 of thousands of shooters who support us.<br /><br />Yes if the then laws had been enforced the Dunblain killings would not have happened.<br />or rather he would not have done it with a gun.<br /><br />There is still the question of freedom that in my last comment to you, if you can think of any freedom that they died for in the last two world wars, I am all ears.FireForcehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17272793024367993465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10815380.post-86553610721413428042009-07-26T12:07:16.493+01:002009-07-26T12:07:16.493+01:00As I recall it was a Labour government which effec...As I recall it was a Labour government which effectively banned shooting as a sport. This followed a ghastly mass-murder which would have been prevented by properly enforcing the then existing firearms laws. <br /><br />I have always thought that the first response to a tragedy should be to see whether existing laws and arrangements should have stopped it were they working properly, rather than a knee-jerk reaction of passing new laws which all too oftern have not been properly thought through.Chris Whitesidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02888720969479013951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10815380.post-25452721762349588412009-07-26T10:37:59.333+01:002009-07-26T10:37:59.333+01:00We are constantly told they died for our freedom?...We are constantly told they died for our freedom?<br />I wish someone would come forward and tell me what these freedoms are, because I am at a loss to understand what they are.<br />When I was younger I used to shoot with self-loading rifles and also go shooting pistols, now all these have been banned, thanks to Conservative governments.<br />A while ago if the U.K. had gone to war again I would have been one the first to enlist, with my own equipment, but now if the U.K. went to war I would ask who are we fighting? and if they won would we get our freedom back?<br />Depending on the answers I would fight for the enemy.<br />We have no freedom worth fighting for in this country now.<br />Chris remember that when you are an M.P.<br />Give us back the freedom that these people fought for.<br />(And yes I have fought for a country, carrying arms.)FireForcehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17272793024367993465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10815380.post-28791570873612640032009-07-25T21:36:09.361+01:002009-07-25T21:36:09.361+01:00Couldn't agree more, Chris. Harry and his kin...Couldn't agree more, Chris. Harry and his kind stand as a stark contrast to the current government, who clearly have no idea whatsoever of the sacrifices soldiers make or the principles that drive them to serve. I was going to mention the lies that took us into Iraq, but I think the current sickening posturing over helicopters for Afghanistan is sufficient example.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743685798068014455noreply@blogger.com