DEFIANCE OF THE MARINES
Day an army of angry servicemen marched on No.10 to demand justice for their jailed comrade Sgt Blackman
WHEN the call came they were not found wanting. For these were Royal Marines and they came in their hundreds to support a jailed comrade.
At the centre of the extraordinary sea of green berets in Parliament Square yesterday was a proud and emotional Claire Blackman. Her husband Alexan- der, 41, is serving eight years for killing a wounded Taliban fighter in the heat of battle in Afghanistan.
Campaigners say the sergeant’s court martial was a travesty of justice, with vital evidence withheld.
‘This has been phenomenal,’ said his wife of the impeccably polite protest. ‘After so many long, dark days, this is right up there with the best of them.’
As many as 1,000 veterans took part in the demonstration along with members of the public and serving troops.
The latter had defied a Ministry of Defence ban and warnings of disciplinary action. One said: ‘We know we risk a charge but we owe it to a comrade.’
Another added: ‘As a serving officer I am appalled. There’s been a disgusting reaction from the Government.
‘We are sent into battle and should be offered some protection.’
Senior officers stayed away, preparing for a lavish dinner to mark the 351st anniversary of the founding of the unit.
Helped by generous donations from Daily Mail readers, Sgt Blackman’s lawyers are readying an appeal petition.
Of all the demonstrations Parliament Square has seen over the years, this was surely one of the most remarkable. for a start, the majority of those assembled beneath Winston Churchill’s statue were in blazers and ties.
No one had a bad word for the police. There was no megaphone, let alone a chorus of ‘What do we want?’ The nearest thing to a chant, if you could call it that, was the National anthem.
Come the procession to Downing Street, with a letter to the Prime Minister, they didn’t interrupt the traffic but stuck strictly to the pavement instead.
Here, for once, was a civil rights march which knew how to march — in time, in step and led by a pair of drummers. Not that anyone was going to stand in their path. for these were old Royal Marines. and, as their banners proudly stated: ‘Once a Marine, always a Marine.’
They had come in honour of Sergeant alexander Blackman, who finds himself serving life for murder in a civilian jail after shooting a dying enemy insurgent in the heat of a vicious afghan battle in 2011.
How petty and demeaning of the authorities to issue a disciplinary warning against any serving military personnel who might have felt tempted to turn up here. This was a masterclass in well- mannered demonstrating.
for all the politeness and shiny shoes, though, this was a gathering every bit as passionate as any antiausterity rally — if not more so.
Because this was not so much a protest — indeed, the organisers were keen to stress it was no such thing — but a very angry family reunion.
and the ‘green beret’ family had descended from all over the country on a wet Wednesday morning simply to show support for a man who had endured some of the bloodiest fighting since World War II and made a split-second mistake.
More than 1,000 people had turned up, mainly former Marines plus ex-servicemen from all the forces, wives, mums, a Pearly King and
Queen from the East End and many members of the public. And, yes, lurking among them — purse-lipped, heads down and disobeying orders — were even one or two current members of the Corps.
THEY had all come to Parliament Square to remind Sgt Blackman, 41, and his indefatigable wife, Claire, that this clan will stand behind their man, come what may. Thanks to a Daily Mail investigation into his 2013 court martial, deeply troubling questions have been raised about the conduct of Sgt Blackman’s trial, about his defence and about the standards of battlefield leadership higher up his chain of command. And thanks to the truly remarkable
generosity of thousands of our readers, who have raised more than £800,000 in a matter of weeks, he can now mount a new legal campaign to have his case reviewed. His supporters argue that he should have been convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Standing before this cheering band of brothers — some had served with her husband; others were old enough to be his grandfather — Claire Blackman was a model of pride and composure yesterday.
‘This has been phenomenal,’ she said. ‘After so many long, dark days, this is right up there with the best of them.’
Yesterday was nothing to do with any legal process. It was the official birthday of the Royal Marines, a day when Marines past and present traditionally gather to toast the formation of the Corps in 1664. This year, Sgt Blackman’s old comrades simply decided that they would have the birthday party in front of Big Ben. And word had travelled fast on the Forces grapevine.
‘We’re here because Al Blackman is our brother and it could have happened to any of us,’ said former Marine Dave Haynes, 42.
It was a view echoed by Jeff Saayman, 29, holding up a sign saying: ‘ If killing the enemy is murder, then you should arrest me.’
‘War is an ugly business,’ said South Africa-born Mr Saayman, who served in Helmand with 42 Commando and left the Marines in 2011. ‘All through training you are taught to make sure the enemy is dead — and that’s what Sergeant Blackman did.’
Overall, the atmosphere was upbeat. Westminster’s St Stephen’s Tavern was spilling out into a side street long before the 11.30am kick-off.
‘You read about this battle and you can’t imagine what’s going through the guy’s mind unless you’ve been there,’ said ex-Marine Alan Melton, 44, now a Bedfordshire driving instructor.
He had come to London with wife Helen, and his three sons. Like Dad, son Harvey, 13, proudly had a beret of his own — from the cadets. Would Helen want to see him follow Dad and trade it in for a green one? She demurs. ‘There’s amazing support among the guys and the wives. There always has been. But the way Al Blackman’s been treated — it’s not going to encourage younger people to join, is it?’
SOME of the most vocal critics of Sgt Blackman’s treatment were a group calling themselves ‘ the Royal Marine Mums’. All parents of serving Marines, none would give their surnames for fear of landing their boys in hot water.
‘We’re the ones who pick up the pieces when they come home broken,’ said a formidable lady who had travelled down from Scotland. ‘We know that war’s not black and white and so should the people who sat in judgment on Sergeant Al.’
All had lived in dread of the latenight knock on the door. Some of yesterday’s crowd had received it.
‘We’re very supportive of Al Blackman because he was just doing his job and our son was killed doing that job,’ said Martin Harrison, 63, from Watford, alongside wife, Gill.
Both wore T- shirts carrying a picture of their son and the words: ‘Cpl Chris ‘H-Bomb’ Harrison RM — Larger Than Life, Never Forgotten.’
Another poignant sight was the number of old chaps from the Marines’ staunchest rivals — the Paras. ‘We’re all brothers today — even if this is the first Royal Marines event I’ve ever been to,’ joked Tom Schaffer, 89, from North London, who fought the Germans through the Ardennes and over the Rhine.
Also wearing the maroon Airborne beret was Bill Parr, 86, from Hackney. ‘I did what Blackman’s done — in Korea,’ he said matter- of-factly. ‘The enemy would come at you out of these tunnels. They might put their hands up but then they’d be holding a grenade. So you just shot them.’
For all the civility here, the smalltalk was not for the faint-hearted. ‘I put my sergeant-major to sleep in the Dhofar War of 1968,’ explained another retired Royal Marine. ‘It was sheer bloody common sense, though I didn’t use a 9mm pistol. I used a lot of morphine.’
And Lieutenant Colonel ewen South-by-Tailyour, 73, a legendary figure from the Falklands War — sensing the islands’ vulnerability, he had even spent a holiday sailing around them to scout key positions shortly before the 1982 Argentine invasion — said he had not come to protest but to ‘salute the incredible dignity of Sergeant Blackman’.
Yet he was one of only two officers I encountered all day. If there was one discordant note at this event, it was that most of the Royal Marines’ former officer cadre were not here. They had elected, instead, to attend a birthday dinner for the Corps in the City of London.
Back in Parliament Square, it only added to the sense of ‘them-and-us’ surrounding questions about leadership — and a Ministry of Defence cover-up — in the Blackman case.
There was praise yesterday for the Mail’s disclosures on the subject and for the leading role played by the writer, Frederick Forsyth, in the campaign. Yesterday, he preferred to keep to the fringes and let others do the talking.
Cheers greeted a sudden outbreak of the Royal Marines’ party piece — A Life On The Ocean Wave. The organisers had been informed by the police that there could be no formal musical presence in Parliament Square — but that they would be powerless to stop any spontaneous musical outburst.
Miraculously, 26 old boys from the famous Band of the Royal Marines just happened to turn up with their instruments. Some hadn’t played for years — or indeed ever met each other before. Nor had there been any sort of rehearsal.
Jeff Knight, 53, spent five years playing for the Queen on the Royal Yacht Britannia before leaving for a civilian career as a carpenter in 1989. Yesterday, he was back on the bass drum again. Like the rest of them, he didn’t play a bum note all day.
Come lunchtime, the chaps formed a ‘hollow square’ to welcome Claire Blackman. She arrived fresh from viewing Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons.
Her host was the Tory MP for South Dorset, Richard Drax, a former Guards officer and champion of the Blackman case. He had tried to raise it at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, without success.
BUT most of Westminster, surely, will have heard the rendition of God Save The Queen bellowed outside before Mrs Blackman, 43, addressed the troops. ‘I am delighted and so thankful,’ said the NHS communications manager from Devon. ‘Alexander is just sorry he can’t be here. He will be watching with great interest. He knows we are here. The turnout is amazing — I really can’t believe it.’
Afterwards, she was presented with a cake in the shape of a green beret followed by a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ for the Corps and three cheers. Whereupon they all set off to watch her deliver a protest letter to Downing Street.
Back in Parliament Square, another demo was already under way — half a dozen people in orange jump suits protesting on behalf of Guantanamo Bay prisoner Shaker Aamer. Just behind them, I found a Royal Marines Mum busying herself with a bin-liner.
‘Any rubbish?’ she asked, scooping up the tiny amount of litter left on the grass.
A very British end to a very British day.