EVERYONE who read the story of Terry Bolter's breathtaking escape from the Gestapo in last week's Express must have been spellbound. Bailing out of a stricken Halifax bomber over enemy occupied Belgium he evaded capture by hiding in cupboards and running over rooftops finally making his way back to England.
At the age of 20 Terry Bolter had 'lived a dozen lives and died a dozen deaths'. Imagine his fate had he been captured?
RAF crew stranded behind enemy lines needed patience, luck and an enormous amount of courage. Not many evaded capture but Terry Bolter's guts and determination finally saw him back to England.
Were it not for the publication of a new book entitled Home Run, Terry's wartime exploits would have remained largely unknown. Compare that to the recent money-grabbing rush to publish the 'stories' of those sailors released by the Iranians after being forced to play ping-pong.
There's an elderly chap living in our village who became a rear gunner in a Lancaster bomber at the age of 17.
I've asked to write his story for years but he won't hear of it. The one or two wartime personnel I know who will talk to me do so reluctantly. Most are making ends meet on a meagre pension.
Meanwhile self-obsessed people are earning a fortune for lolling around the Big Brother house scratching their behinds.
In two generations we've gone from unsung heroes torn from their families to fight for the freedom of others to illiterate morons making millions for spouting foul-mouthed abuse on TV.
It's a strange shift in values wouldn't you say?
