Madam, – Tom Clonan paints a disturbing picture of the consequences for this country if the planned German invasion in 1940 had succeeded (Opinion, June 28th).
He also pays tribute to the sacrifices made by the RAF pilots of many nations in the Battle of Britain which prevented such a catastrophe from occurring. To these may be added the outstanding leadership of fighter command, not least that of Keith Park, the New Zealander who commanded No 11 Group which bore the brunt of the Luftwaffe attacks. After the war, Marshall of the RAF, Lord Tedder, said of Park: “I don’t believe it is realised how much that one man, with his leadership, his calm judgment and his skill, did to save not only this country, but the world.” – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Kudos to Tom Clonan for his excellent article on Hitler’s plans to invade Ireland (Opinion, June 28th), in particular the highlighting of the vital role of the RAF in saving us from the horrors of the Third Reich.
It would be nice to think that this would comprehensively end the myth that our neutrality is anything other than the result of an historic act of cowardice during Europe’s darkest hour, but somehow I doubt it.
However, perhaps some of those diehards still opposing the proposed visit by Queen Elizabeth II will reconsider their position, given that it was only due to the valiant actions of her father’s armed forces that we remained a free people, unlike so many millions of our European brothers and sisters. – Yours, etc,