Cave heroes can make us feel proud
DEANO ON SUNDAY
WELL, they’re back.
After travelling thousands of miles, putting into practice years of training, handling the task in hand to the best of their ability and facing the challenges and pressure with guts, determination and sheer, dogged bravery, they can reflect on a job well done.
I’m not talking about the England football team, though I – a fervent non- football fan – was one of the 38 million- or- so who tuned in to watch Wednesday night’s semi- final against Croatia.
I’m saluting Brits Rick Stanton and John Volanthen – the first divers to reach the group of 12 Thai schoolboys and their coach after they went missing in the underground network in northern Thailand.
The pair, along with five other British elite divers, had flown to the region to assist at the request of Thai authorities.
They joined a multi- national rescue coalition – including Thai Navy SEAL Valeepoan Gunan who tragically lost his life during the rescue attempt.
This was, literally, life and death – for the trapped boys and their rescuers.
What those divers brought to the party was experience and bravery that money could not buy.
One of the world’s richest men, Elon Musk ( left), tried to help with the rescue by offering the use of a mini- submarine. He was told: “Sorry, Mr Musk. Multi- million- dollar gadgets are no use down there. We need brave men to crawl through tiny holes, underwater and in the pitch black, to drag those boys to safety.”
Muck and pluck would save the day – not dollars and cents. And save the day they did. Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan wrote on Twitter: “Proud of the England Football team. But that’s just sport. More proud of the 7 British divers that have helped save all those boys’ lives in Thailand.” Exactly. When England were knocked out of the World Cup, there were scenes of grown men sobbing.
Those tears were more likely the result of over- excitement and too much ale.
Had Rick Stanton, John Volanthen and the others merely come “oh so near” there would have been REAL tears from mothers who had lost their children.
Kind of puts a game of football into perspective, doesn’t it?
The British divers who saved those kiddies are far too modest to bask in any glory.
They have publicly brushed aside calls for them to be knighted.
Sorry lads – the glory’s coming your way.
The England team would have been showered with gongs had they come home with the World Cup, and rightly so.
Rick, John and the others – Vernon Unsworth, Robert Harper, Chris Jewell, Jason Mallison and Tim Acton – deserve the highest honours a proud nation can offer.
They have made this nation truly proud.