My father served in the Irish Guards during the 39-45 unpleasantness. he was in the guards armoured division driving a tank . He died in February this year and he always had nightmares about the stuff he went through as a tank driver. His regiment went into action 2 days after D-Day and he would never discuss what he saw and did, but he always said that only way to describe it was wholesale slaughter.

I suppose he would have been described in modern parlance as homophobic. I think it very unlikely he would have been happy in a gang of homosexuals - even as Isherwood would have said - homosexual for commercial reasons: and he had a great affection for his old regiment - even to my mother's horror (she was a Quaker) thinking it would be an okay place for me to serve when I was about four. Still I'm glad Blunt got lucky one night at least.

he did say that none of Irish comrades dared go home in uniform when they had a furlough - not wearing an English uniform. And from the Enniskillen bombing at the memorial, I suppose that attitude must still prevail in places. I think those men who fought against Hitler did their nation a favour. Hitler wouldn't have been any nicer to the Celtic nations than he was to the Slavic ones.