Remain?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/28/theresa-may-warned-plans-to-curb-eu-migration-is-likely-to-be-op/

The Telegraph

Theresa May reassures 800,000 Poles living in UK over Brexit and condemns 'shameful' post-referendum attacks

By Ben Riley-Smith and Laura Hughes
28 JULY 2016 • 8:44PM

Theresa May has told nearly 800,000 Poles living in the UK that she “wants and expects” them to remain in the country after Brexit and condemned “shameful” post-referendum attacks during a visit to Poland. 

Speaking in Warsaw on Thursday, the Prime Minister spoke out against the “despicable” hate crimes Poles have suffered in the wake of the Brexit vote last month. 

She also promised to “always” fulfil Britain's obligations to Nato despite leaving the EU after UK troops were deployed to counter the threat of Russia in Eastern Europe. 

However in a challenge to Mrs May, Beata Szydło, the Polish Prime Minister, said that she wanted to save freedom of movement, which gives EU citizens the right to travel freely across the bloc. 

The Prime Minister is under pressure from Tory Eurosceptics to deliver "hard Brexit" that would see EU citizens lose their right to automatically come to the UK. 

The comments came as Mrs May met with Ms Szydło in the latest leg of a diplomatic blitz designed to smooth the path for Brexit negotiations 

Earlier in the day, Mrs May had held talks with Robert Fico, the Slovakian Prime Minister, where the pair also appeared to clash over limiting freedom of movement rules. 

Mr Fico said that the "perception British voters have" of EU migration was "slightly different to how we perceive migration on the continent”. 

During the Tory leadership contest, Mrs May faced a backlash after refusing to guarantee the rights of almost three million EU nationals. 

Speaking in Warsaw, Mrs May said: “I want to be clear that Poles living in the UK continue to be welcome and we value the contribution they make to our country. 

“We condemned shameful and despicable attacks against on Polish communities and others in the wake of the referendum result. 

“Hate crime of any kind detected against any community, race or religion has absolutely no place in British society. 

“I understand that poles currently living in the UK want to know whether they can retain their rights once the UK leaves the EU.”

Mrs May also paid tribute to Polish pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain, saying the UK would “never forget” their efforts to help win the Second World War. 

She pledged to continue to spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence in line with Nato commitments and promised to “stand tall in the world” alongside allies after leaving the EU. 

Mrs May also said she wanted to develop the “strongest possible relationship with Poland” after Brexit. 

Earlier in the day Mr Fico urged Mrs May to think of his citizens living in the Britain as she went about negotiating the country’s exit form the EU.

Mr Fico told journalists: "For [Britain] the issue of migration is especially the issue of migrant workers from the EU in the UK.

"I have asked the Prime Minister to dedicate a special level of attention to Slovak nationals and citizens who work currently in the UK."

Slovakia holds the presidency of the EU Council, made up of leaders of all 28 member states, until the end of the year. 

That gives the country an enlarged role in responding to the initial shock of Britain's vote to leave that has thrown up questions about the bloc's future.

Mr Fico also said the EU seemed to be falling in love with itself and needed to use the time before Britain formally starts divorce proceedings to create a new vision of Europe.

"This is an opportunity for both sides to reimagine and redesign a new project of mutual relations, a project that will be equally attractive both to the citizens of the United Kingdom and the European Union," Mr Fico said.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._303_Polish_Fighter_Squadron

No. 303 ("Kościuszko") Polish Fighter Squadron (Polish: 303 Dywizjon Myśliwski "Warszawski im. Tadeusza Kościuszki") was one of 16 Polish squadrons in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. It was the highest scoring of the Hurricane squadrons during the Battle of Britain.[1][2][3]

The squadron was named after the Polish and United States hero General Tadeusz Kościuszko, and the eponymous Polish 7th Air Escadrille founded by Merian C. Cooper, that served Poland in the 1919–1921 Polish-Soviet War. No. 303 was formed in July 1940 in Blackpool, England[4] before deployment to RAF Northolt on 2 August as part of an agreement between the Polish Government in Exile and the United Kingdom. It had a distinguished combat record and was disbanded in December 1946.

During the Battle of Britain, No. 303 Squadron was equipped with Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft. Manned by experienced veterans, equipped with a fighter on a technical par with most of its opponents, and expertly backed by the well established RAF command, communication and logistics infrastructure, the squadron was able to become an effective fighting force during the Battle.[5

On 30 August 1940, the squadron scored its first victory while still officially non-operational, when a German Messerschmitt Bf 110 of 4./ZG 76 (initially incorrectly recorded as a Dornier Do 17) was shot down by F/O Ludwik Paszkiewicz during a training flight. The wreck was excavated in 1982.[7] After S/L Kellet's personal recommendation, the squadron was declared operational next day by No. 11 Group RAF.

On 31 August 1940, the squadron was scrambled in the late afternoon on its first operational sortie. In a dogfight over Kent, "A" Flight claimed four confirmed and two probable victories over Messerschmitt Bf 109s, possibly of LG 2. Claimants were S/L Kellet, F/O Henneberg, P/O Feric and Sgt. Karubin.

During 2 September 1940, the squadron was scrambled three times. On the last scramble, P/O Feric shot down a Bf 109 and then made a forced landing near Dover while former Czechoslovak Air Force pilot Sgt. Josef František claimed a Bf 110. The following day over Dover, Frantisek claimed his second victory; with a total of 17 victories he was the top-scoring Allied fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain. On 5 September, nine No. 303 Hurricanes intercepted a German bombing formation escorted by Bf 109s, with the Poles claiming five Bf 109s and three Junkers Ju 88s for one loss: P/O Lapkowski bailing out wounded.

On 6 September 1940, nine Hurricanes were scrambled towards incoming bomber formations. However, during the climb, they were bounced by Bf 109s of III./JG 27. S/L Kellet and F/L Forbes both force-landed, and were wounded slightly, while Sgt Karubin bailed out wounded, S/L Krasnodebski was severely burned and three other Hurricanes were damaged.[8] The squadron claimed five Bf 109s (of JG 27 and JG 52), a Do 17 and a Heinkel He 111. F/O Witold Urbanowicz was appointed as acting Squadron Leader.

On 7 September 1940, the German air offensive switched to the London docks. No. 303 Squadron was successfully vectored towards the incoming bomber streams and claimed 12 Do 17s and two Bf 109s, with P/O Zumbach, P/O Feric, Sgt. Szaposznikow and Sgt. Wojtowicz all scoring double victories. P/O Daszewski was shot down and seriously wounded, while F/O Pisarek bailed out. His Hurricane crashed in a back garden of a house in Loughton, killing a family of three in their shelter.[9] Two other aircraft were damaged. On 9 September 1940, 12 Hurricanes were scrambled and two claims made over Bf 109s by Zumbach (both of JG 53) and one by Frantisek -a Bf 109 of 7./JG 27 – who also claimed a He 111 of KG 53 as a "probable", while a Bf 110 was shot down by F/L Kent. Sgt. Wunsche had to bail out with burns over Beachy Head, and Sgt. Frantisek crash-landed.

At 16:00 hours on 11 September 1940, the squadron attacked a bomber formation south of London. F/O Cebrzynski was fatally wounded by return fire, while Sgt. Wojtowicz shot down two Messerschmitt Bf 110s before being shot down and killed. The pilots claimed two Bf 110s, one Bf 109, three Do 17s and four He 111s.

In the massed dogfights over London on 15 September 1940, the squadron was heavily involved, with nine Hurricanes led by F/L Kent intercepting a German raid in mid-morning. Nine kills were claimed: six Bf 109s, one Bf 110 and two Do 17s. In the afternoon, a flight formation led by S/L Kellet claimed four victories, while the five-strong "B" Flight led by F/O Urbanowicz, claimed two Do 17s, for two Polish pilots shot down (Sgt. Brzezowski killed, Sgt Andruszkow bailed out while P/O Lokuciewski was wounded in the leg, returning to base safely). During the day, No. 303 Squadron claimed 15 victories.[10]

On the afternoon of 26 September 1940, No. 303 Squadron was scrambled towards a large enemy raid over Hampshire, with the Poles claiming 13 victories for three Hurricanes damaged (actual Luftwaffe losses were nine in total).[11] There was further intense fighting on 27 September 1940, with 11 Hurricanes engaged by massed escorts to a KG 77 30-bomber formation. The squadron claimed 15 victories: six Bf 109s, two Bf 110s of LG 1, four "He 111s" (probably Ju 88s) and three Ju 88s although F/O Paszkiewicz and Sgt Andruszkow were killed. F/O Zak was wounded and bailed out over Horsham and four Hurricanes were lost in total. Just six aircraft were serviceable during the afternoon, engaging a raid of 15 Ju 88s. Two bombers were brought down before the escort intervened, and a Bf 109 was also claimed. F/O Urbanowicz claimed four German aircraft during the day. On 30 September 1940, F/O Urbanowicz once again claimed four victories, additionally a Do 17 was brought down by P/O. Radomski, who bailed out, as did Sgt. Belc, while Sgt. Karubin claimed a Bf 109.

On 5 October 1940, Polish pilots claimed five Bf 110s and four Bf 109s, though P/O Januszewicz was killed. (Eprobungsgruppe 210 lost two Bf 110s Jabos and JG 3 and JG 53, a Bf 109 each). A fight over the Thames Estuary on 7 October saw claims for three Bf 109s of LG 2. On 11 October 1940, the squadron was transferred for a rest to Leconfield in No. 12 Group, ending its participation in the Battle of Britain.

No. 303 Squadron claimed the largest number of aircraft destroyed of the 66 Allied fighter squadrons engaged in the Battle of Britain, even though it joined the fray two months after the battle had begun. [12]

Its success in combat can be mainly attributed to the years of extensive and rigorous pre-war training many of the long-serving Polish veterans had received in their homeland, far more than many of their younger and inexperienced RAF comrades then being thrown into the battle. Tactics and skill also played a role; on one occasion, No. 303's Sgt Stanislaw Karubin resorted to extreme tactics to bring down a German fighter. Following a prolonged air battle, Karubin was chasing a German fighter at treetop level. As he closed in on the tail of the German fighter, Karubin realised that his Hurricane had run out of ammunition. Rather than turning back to base, he closed the distance and climbed right above the German fighter. The German pilot was so shocked to see the underside of the Hurricane within arm's reach of his cockpit that he instinctively reduced his altitude to avoid a collision and crashed into the ground.[13]

Withdrawn from battle for a rest on 11 October 1940, the squadron had claimed 126 kills in six weeks. Relative to aircraft downed, losses were small with 18 Hurricanes lost, seven pilots killed and five badly wounded.[14] Although the number of Battle of Britain claims was overestimated (as with virtually all fighter units), No. 303 Squadron was one of the top fighter units in the battle and the best Hurricane-equipped one. According to historian John Alcorn, 44 victories are positively verified, making No. 303 Squadron the fourth highest scoring squadron of the battle, after Squadron Nos. 603 AuxAF (57.8 verified kills), 609 AuxAF (48 verified kills) and 41 (45.33 verified kills), which all flew Spitfires.[7] It was also had the highest kill-to-loss ratio; of 2.8:1. However, J. Alcorn was not able to attribute 30 aircraft shot down to any particular unit, and according to Jerzy Cynk and other Polish historians, the actual number of victories for No. 303 Squadron was about 55–60.[7] According to Polish historian Jacek Kutzner the verified number of kills of 303 Squadron is around 58.8, which would still place it above all other squadrons regarding verified kills. This is presented by Kutzner's chart, which shows Polish confirmed kills (left column), confirmed kills of all Allied squadrons, including Polish (central column) and real German losses on each day when No. 303 Squadron was involved in air combats (right column).[15] In its first seven days of combat, the squadron claimed nearly 40 enemy aircraft.[16]

Notes

1. Olson and Cloud 2003
2. Zaloga and Hook 1982, p. 15.
3. Gretzyngier and Matusiak 1998, p. 25.
4. http://www.polishsquadronsremembered.com/303/303_story.html
5. Ratuszynski, Wilhelm. "No. 303 Polish Squadron History." Polish Squadrons Remembered.. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
6. Bristow, Mark and Sylvia Laidlow-Petersen. A History of Royal Air Force Northolt. RAF Northolt: No. 1 AIDU, 2005.
7. to: a b c d Letter of Jerzy Cynk to Skrzydlata Polska 1/2006 magazine, pp. 61–62 (in Polish)
8. Ramsay 1989, p. 422.  
9. Ramsay 1989, p. 436.
10. "F/Sgt Wojciechowski.". Retrieved 30 October 2011.
11. Ramsay 1989
12. Deighton 1996, pp. 188, 275.
13. Gretzyngier 2001, p. 62.
14. Ratuszynski, Wilhelm, "303 Sqn Remembered". Retrieved 25 November 2011
15. "Dywizjon 303. Zestrzelenia (in Polish)". Retrieved 30 October 2011.
16. Ratuszynski, Wilhelm. "303 Squadron in the Battle of Britain." Polish Squadrons Remembered.. Retrieved 21 October 2009.

Bibliography

• Anders, Władysław. An Army in Exile. London: MacMillan & Co., 1949.
• Caldwell, Donald. The JG26 War Diary, Vol. 1: 1939–1942. London: Grub Street, 1996. ISBN 978-1-898697-52-7.
• Cynk, Jerzy B. The Polish Air Force at War: The Official History, 1939–1943. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 1998. ISBN 0-7643-0559-X.
• Cynk, Jerzy B. The Polish Air Force at War: The Official History, 1943–1945. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 1998. ISBN 0-7643-0560-3.
• Fiedler, Arkady. Dywizjon 303 (in Polish). London: Peter Davies Ltd., 1942. (Translated as Squadron 303: The Polish Fighter Squadron with the R.A.F.. London: Peter Davies Ltd., 1942/New York: Roy Publishers, 1943. Reprint Kessinger Publishing, 2007.) New edition 303 Squadron: The Legendary Battle of Britain Fighter Squadron translated by Jarek Garliński. Los Angeles: Aquila Polonica, 2010 hard cover: ISBN 978-1-60772-004-1 Trade paperback ISBN 978-1-60772-005-8.
• Gretzyngier, Robert. Poles in Defence of Britain: A Day-by-Day Chronology of Polish Day and Night Fighter Operations, July 1940 – June 1941. London: Grub Street, 2001. ISBN 1-902304-54-3.
• Gretzyngier, Robert. Polskie Skrzydła 4: Hawker Hurricane, część 1 (in Polish). Sandomierz, Poland: Stratus, 2005. ISBN 83-89450-37-2.
• Gretzyngier, Robert and Wojtek Matusiak. Polish Aces of World War 2. London: Osprey, 1998. ISBN 1-85532-726-0.
• Halley, James J. The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1918–1988. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1988. ISBN 0-85130-164-9.
• Jefford, Wing Commander C.G., MBE, BA, RAF (Retd). RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2001. ISBN 1-84037-141-2.
• Olson, Lynne and Stanley Cloud.A Question of Honor. The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II. New York: Knopf, 2003. ISBN 0-375-41197-6.
• Ramsay, Winston, ed. The Battle of Britain Then and Now, Mk V. London: Battle of Britain Prints International Ltd, 1989. ISBN 0-900913-46-0.
• Rawlings, John D.R. Fighter Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Macdonald & Jane's (Publishers) Ltd., 1969 (revised edition 1976, reprinted 1978). ISBN 0-354-01028-X.
• Zaloga, Steven J. and Richard Hook. The Polish Army 1939–45. London: Osprey Publishing, 1982. ISBN 0-85045-417-4.
• Zamoyski, Adam. The Forgotten Few: The Polish Air Force in the Second World War. New York: Hippocrene Books Inc., 1995. ISBN 978-0-7818-0421-9.

Battle of Britain, 1941, by Paul Nash.

In 1940, Paul Nash was one of Britain's most prominent artists and was acting as an official war artist for the second time, having first done so during the First World War. During the Second World War he developed a fascination with aerial warfare, as well as revulsion for Nazi Germany. Both themes are evident in this painting. The regimented formations of Luftwaffe aircraft in the top right, approaching ominously from the continent, are broken by RAF fighter planes in a huge, free-flowing swirl of contrails. The painting attempts to summarise the Battle of Britain as a whole in one ambitious image, giving a view of the aerial combat taking place over London and south-east England, with the English Channel and mainland Europe beyond. Nash depicts these events in epic terms, but also as a British victory. While the skies over Britain are blue and open, clouds are gathered on the horizon over Europe.

http://www.chinatownology.com/liverpool_chinese_seamen_memorial.html

Liverpool Chinese Seamen Memorial

On 26 January 2006, a memorial plaque was installed at the pier head in Liverpool close to the Liverpool museum and some distance from Liverpool Chinatown. This memorial plaque commemorated a tragic incident and a miscarriage of justice that occurred more than half a century ago.

Forced Repatriation

At the end of World War Two thousands of Chinese seamen were forced to leave the UK. These men had arrived in the UK to work on ships plying the dangerous seas during the war and many of their friends died during service. The British Government decided that their numbers had grown too big to be acceptable leading to the decision to repatriate them back to China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The same thing had happened after the First World War.  Then, too, men who had served in the British merchant marine had been forced out of the country.

In both wars many of the men had arrived in the UK to work and were glad to return home however, in both conflicts some of them had married local women and even had children.

Lives changed forever

Their families had no idea what happened to them and some even assumed they had been deserted by their husband or father. Many of their wives faced great hardships and some were forced to give up their children for adoption.

The lives of everyone involved changed irrevocably; wives became widows and children became orphans who had to grow up without their natural fathers. More misery and agony awaited those who were given up for adoption. They essentially became orphans and forced to grow up in a different environment even though their natural parents were alive.

The children of these seamen eventually form an organization and lobbied for a memorial.

Letting go and moving on

The memorial plaque cannot return the lost lives of the victims. Neither can it return the loss of affection or warmth of the family that were rightfully theirs. Their lives have been changed forever but hopefully the memorial plaque can help victims to come to terms with the unfortunate event, let go of the sad past and move forward in their lives.

Hopefully, the memorial plaque will also offer a lesson to policy makers so that no innocent children should have to suffer the loss of their parents or ruined childhood because inhumane policies and unjust decisions.

Yvonne Foley

One of the children affected by this history was Yvonne Foley whose discovery of her parentage led her to initiate a movement to build the Liverpool Chinese Seamen memorial. As a child, I knew I was different.  Why did I have black hair? Why did I get suntanned so quickly in the summer? My sister had blond hair and she just went red when she played in the sun. But there were lots of kids in our street who had brown skin, so it didn’t bother me too much.

Then one day a new kid moved into the neighbourhood.  I ran home and told my mother we had a Chinese boy in the street.  She said ‘He’s not Chinese.  He’s half – like you.’ Me? Chinese? Then I forgot about it.

Where is my father?

As a teenager, I used to argue politics with my Dad.  The wonderful man who brought me up. One day, exasperated with my arguing with Dad, my mother blurted out ‘ You’re just like your father, always wanting to change the World!’ I looked at her, puzzled. She added ‘Your Shanghai father.’ And walked away.

Over the next few years I learned a little more.  My Chinese father came from the French quarter of Shanghai, that was why I had a French name – Yvonne.

He was an engineer. They courted for two years. Then they had eloped when my grandfather refused to give my mother permission to marry him.  She was still under 21.  He had gone back to China after the War saying he would set things up for his little family then send for us. But he never came back.

Over the years I learned a little more but I was never able to discover why this man had never come back.  If he was a man of such high principles, if I was so much like him, why did it happen?

Reconnecting

My life moved on.  I married, moved to Australia and then to Hong Kong.  For the first time I was living in a Chinese society. I became close friends with a Shanghai woman of my own age. She had been educated in the UK and Canada and I learned a lot from her about the culture in which I could have grown up.  I was able to see Shanghai and walk the streets where my father had walked.

Eventually, I moved back to Britain.  My Dad passed away and I felt I could now start to investigate what had happened. Why had the man my mother had loved as a young woman and who, it seemed, had loved her never come back?

The truth emerges

My research helped me to discover why. He and many other ‘agitators’ had been forced out.  They had been blacklisted for demanding equality of treatment with British sailors for braving the same dangers. They were prevented from coming back. As I learned this, I could not help but think how I would have behaved.  I am now old enough to understand myself.  I too would have been an ‘agitator’. I would have pressed for equality of treatment. I would not have been able to keep quiet.  I now knew how much I was my father’s daughter. I can look back over my life at the things I have done and see just how true that is. Being a Union representative as a teenager is a pretty good example!

My father’s genes are obviously strong in me.  But I grew up in a Liverpool working class household.  The values I hold are very much those values – treat others as you find them.  Work hard.  Be honest with others. They were the values of my Mum and my Dad.  Would my Chinese father’s values have been any different?  I do not think so.  In fact, I am sure they would have been exactly the same.

All the work I have done over the last decade has been of immense value. I am clearer now about who I am and why I am the way I am.  I am half Chinese. But my culture is Western.  I am the daughter of three people. And I am grateful for that.

This article is contributed by Yvonne Foley, one of the children whose life was changed because of the decision to repatirate the Chinese seamen.
They have developed a website half and half to record this forgotten history and lobbied for the memorial to the Chinese Seamen.

http://www.liverpoolconfidential.co.uk/news-and-comment/exclusive-children-of-lost-chinese-sailors-demand-home-office-apology

Liverpool Confidential

Exclusive: Children of lost Chinese sailors demand Home Office apology
Shameful post-war episode saw thousands of men rounded up and deported without warning

Written by  Larry Neild | Follow @larryneild | Sunday, 14 June 2015 15:43

The elderly children of thousands of Chinese sailors deported from Liverpool after World War II today demanded an official apology for having their fathers “stolen” from them.
They want Home Secretary Theresa May to say sorry for the way the men were rounded up, without warning, by Special Branch agents in 1946 - or, to use the official jargon, “compulsorily repatriated”.
Children grew up believing they had been abandoned, others were subsequently put up for adoption by their destitute mothers after the men in their lives suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth.
It would be more than half a century before the truth finally came out and they learned that they were not deserted after all.
The families of these seamen were totally ignorant of these events thinking that the men were killed at sea or they had been deserted and left abandoned with no form of income
In the early 1940s,  20,000 Chinese men were recruited into the British Merchant Navy. Based in Liverpool, around 300 of these married or cohabitated with local women.
They crewed ships in the U-boat infested waters of the North Atlantic, playing a vital part in Britain’s warfare, relaying supplies and arms from the US.
In return for their efforts they were, over a two-day operation, thrown out of the country they had helped save. Many were married with children, but they were denied the chance to even say their goodbyes.

Peter Foo at the Pier Head monument to the families who had their lives devastated

Peter Foo, the man who has launched the petition on change.org, grew up in Liverpool never knowing his father, for many years resenting him for abandoning his family.
Now 71, he says the disappearance, almost 70 years ago, has had a lifelong impact.
“On behalf of all of the children, I have started this petition because my father disappeared in 1946 and this event has had a bad reflection on my life,” he said.
The episode continues to cause grief in Liverpool where people still remain separated from fathers they have never met.
An official monument near the Pier Head, dedicated to the children left behind, recalls what is often described as one of the most shamefully racist events in post-war Britain.
Mr Foo is hoping to gather enough names to win an acknowledgement and apology from the British Home Office for the 1946 Forced Repatriation from Liverpool of thousands of Chinese sailors, on behalf of their families, wives, children and grandchildren.
Mr Foo said: “Due to civil conflict between the Communists and the Republicans and the coastal areas of main land China being inaccessible, the majority of these seamen were not repatriated but were put ashore in foreign countries thousands of miles from their homes.
“The families of these seamen were totally ignorant of these events thinking that the men were killed at sea or they had been deserted and left abandoned with no form of income.”

Hundreds of Liverpool children with Chinese fathers thought they had been abandoned when actually their fathers had been kicked out of Britain without warningHundreds of Liverpool children with Chinese fathers thought they had been abandoned when actually their dads had been kicked out of Britain without warning

Many of the Liverpool Chinese sailors deported were married to Liverpool women or were in relationships with British women and were fathers to young children. These women were wrongly described as prostitutes in the Home Office memos of the time.

Added Mr Foo: “These children are now in their late sixties or early seventies and have realised that their lives have been affected by the emotional upset of finding out that their fathers who had disappeared had probably been forcibly repatriated.”

He said others affected have found out in the last three years that they had been adopted and this has caused much upset to them and their children and grandchildren “The consequence of this historic illegal deportation created a detrimental effect on the lives of innocent British citizens and has arguably had tragic and psychological life changing implications including financial difficulties and cannot be measured in any shape or form.”

Keith Cocklin, also half-Chinese, was born soon after his father had been thrown out of Britain and he never managed to trace his dad. Keith is credited with the person who opened the "Pandora’s Box" in 1999 that led soon after to discovering the truth of what happened to the sailors. “It was regarded as the ‘unspeakable’ truth, people too afraid to talk of what happened in 1946, but it left many of us not knowing what had happened. I had been brought up to believe my father had been killed at sea, when all the time like many others he was forcibly deported.”

A play, The Curious Disappearance of Mr Foo, has been written in Liverpool by art and cultural organisation The Sound Agents, telling the story of Foo’s father and other sailors. Moira Kenny from the organisation said: “It is an untold story and our aim is to have it told in a film that can be shown in China and around the world.”

On this day in 1932 U.S. President Herbert Hoover orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, D.C.

The Bonus Army was the popular name of an assemblage of some 43,000 marchers—17,000 World War I veterans, their families, and affiliated groups—who gathered in Washington, D.C., in the summer of 1932 to demand cash-payment redemption of their service certificates. Its organizers called it the Bonus Expeditionary Force to echo the name of World War I's American Expeditionary Forces, while the media called it the Bonus Army. It was led by Walter W. Waters, a former army sergeant.

Many of the war veterans had been out of work since the beginning of the Great Depression. The World War Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924 had awarded them bonuses in the form of certificates they could not redeem until 1945. Each service certificate, issued to a qualified veteran soldier, bore a face value equal to the soldier's promised payment plus compound interest. The principal demand of the Bonus Army was the immediate cash payment of their certificates.

Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler, one of the most popular military figures of the time, visited their camp to back the effort and encourage them.[1] On July 28, U.S. Attorney General William D. Mitchell ordered the veterans removed from all government property. Washington police met with resistance, shots were fired and two veterans were wounded and later died. President Herbert Hoover then ordered the army to clear the veterans' campsite. Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur commanded the infantry and cavalry supported by six tanks. The Bonus Army marchers with their wives and children were driven out, and their shelters and belongings burned.

Most of the Bonus Army camped in a "Hooverville" on the Anacostia Flats, a swampy, muddy area across the Anacostia River from the federal core of Washington, just south of the 11th Street Bridges (now Section C of Anacostia Park). The camps, built from materials scavenged from a nearby rubbish dump, were tightly controlled by the veterans, who laid out streets, built sanitation facilities, and held daily parades. To live in the camps, veterans were required to register and to prove they had been honorably discharged.

On June 15, 1932, the US House of Representatives passed the Wright Patman Bonus Bill to move forward the date for World War I veterans to receive their cash bonus.[11] The Bonus Army massed at the U.S. Capitol on June 17 as the U.S. Senate voted on the Bonus Bill. The bill was defeated by a vote of 62–18.

Police shooting

The marchers remained at their campsite waiting for Hoover to act. On July 28, 1932, Attorney General William D. Mitchell ordered the police to remove the Bonus Army veterans from their camp. When the veterans moved back into it, police drew their revolvers and shot at the veterans, two of whom, William Hushka and Eric Carlson, died later.[12][13]

Hushka (1895– July 28, 1932) was an immigrant to the United States from Lithuania. When the US entered World War I in 1917, he sold his butcher shop in St. Louis, Missouri and joined the United States Army. After the war, he lived in Chicago.[13] Hushka is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[citation needed]

Carlson (1894 – August 2, 1932) was a US veteran from Oakland, California. He fought in the trenches of France in World War I.[13][14][15] He was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.[16]

When told of the shootings, Hoover ordered the army to evict the Bonus Army from Washington.

Army intervention

At 4:45 p.m., commanded by General Douglas MacArthur, the 12th Infantry Regiment, Fort Howard, Maryland, and the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, supported by six battle tanks commanded by Maj. George S. Patton, formed in Pennsylvania Avenue while thousands of civil service employees left work to line the street and watch. The Bonus Marchers, believing the troops were marching in their honor, cheered the troops until Patton ordered[citation needed] the cavalry to charge them, which prompted the spectators to yell, "Shame! Shame!"

Shacks that members of the Bonus Army erected on the Anacostia Flats burning after its confrontation with the army.

After the cavalry charged, the infantry, with fixed bayonets and tear gas (adamsite, an arsenical vomiting agent) entered the camps, evicting veterans, families, and camp followers. The veterans fled across the Anacostia River to their largest camp, and Hoover ordered the assault stopped. MacArthur chose to ignore the president and ordered a new attack, claiming that the Bonus March was an attempt to overthrow the US government; 55 veterans were injured and 135 arrested.[13] A veteran's wife miscarried. When 12-week-old Bernard Myers died in the hospital after being caught in the tear gas attack, a government investigation reported he died of enteritis, and a hospital spokesman said the tear gas "didn't do it any good."[17]

During the military operation, Major Dwight D. Eisenhower, later the 34th president of the United States, served as one of MacArthur's junior aides.[18] Believing it wrong for the Army's highest-ranking officer to lead an action against fellow American war veterans, he strongly advised MacArthur against taking any public role: "I told that dumb son-of-a-bitch not to go down there," he said later. "I told him it was no place for the Chief of Staff."[19] Despite his misgivings, Eisenhower later wrote the Army's official incident report that endorsed MacArthur's conduct.[20]