Dambusters race row as dog’s name is ‘erased from history’
ADECISION to remove the gravestone for the dog belonging to the Dambusters’ commander because of its racist connotations has been condemned as an attempt to rewrite history.
The memorial, which bore the N-word, has been replaced at Scrampton, Lincolnshire, with a new version because the RAF says it will not give prominence to an offensive term.
The black labrador retriever – killed in a car crash in 1943 – belonged to Wing Commander Guy Gibson who led the famous 617 Squadron and used his dog’s name as a codeword during the bouncing bombs raid on German dams that year.
The term was used repeatedly in the 1955 film of the daring low-level attack. When aired today, it is either edited out or dubbed over and replaced by ‘Trigger’.
But Lawrence McGowan, former press officer of the Cannock Chase RAF Association, said: “They may have changed the name on the grave, but they haven’t changed it in history.
“I understand if people feel upset by it – and that is a problem. No one wants people to be upset. I know how difficult it is, but it is about the context in which these words are used.
“In the film, the name is changed to Trigger, the name of Roy Rogers’ horse. For me, that doesn’t sit well with the most famous raid in the force’s history.”
Wartime historian Richard Pursehouse, founder of military group The Chase Project, said: “Stephen Fry is currently working on the script for a Dambusters remake. He has said it’s the name of the dog, it’s an historical fact, that’s the way it is. As one author stated, ‘the past is a country that did things differently then’.
“If you massage the historical details, you end up with fabrication that people believe. We are increasingly seeing this. The BBC keeps on referring to us fighting the Nazis in the Second World War. “But we didn’t. The Nazis were a political party. We fought the Germans – let’s get that straight.”
Leading Birmingham community activist Desmond Jaddoo feels erasing the Dambusters dog’s name will do little to help the fight for equality.
“The dog’s name epitomises the issues black people faced, the disdain black service personnel faced,” Mr Jaddoo argues. “Yet the black contribution to the war effort speaks for itself.
“The simple fact is that there has to be an admission of the history, and apologies for members of our community. What is needed is reconciliation and an admission of Britain’s racist past, and that racism continues today.
“Admit the history, learn from the history and move forward. Renaming memorials and tearing down statues will not give us the equality we need.
“I do not want to see small plasters placed over gaping wounds.”