Billy bins Nazi flag after local backlash
A FORMER British soldier has taken down a Nazi flag he was flying outside his home after a community backlash.
Billy Brown put the red flag, which contained a black and white swastika, up in the back garden of his home on Belmont Walk in Walker, Newcastle.
The 81-year-old’s neighbours were left disgusted by his decision to put up the flag on Monday.
A local resident reported how German music was also heard at his home during the late morning and early afternoon. The tune that was being played at the property was Erika, a marching song composed in the 1930s and used by the German military.
One neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “He’s always got different flags but that is the first time I’ve seen a Nazi flag. I’m in complete and utter shock. I’m disgusted.”
Another resident, who did not want to be named, said: “Other neighbours are as disgusted as I am, it gives the street a bad name as we’ll all be tarred with the same brush. Walker is a lovely mix of people so there will be a lot upset at seeing this bigoted flag. They have been singing loudly songs in German but, as I do not speak German, I do not know if they were Nazi songs or something else.”
A third person, who lives nearby, added: “That’s wrong. He can’t be doing things like that no matter how old he is. It’s offensive.”
The Swastika is widely recognised as a symbol of the Nazi Party. Between 1933 and the end of the Second World War in 1945, the party, led by Adolf Hitler, controlled German life, waged war across Europe and killed millions of Jews.
Billy, who says he was in the British Army for six years and served in Germany, says he put the flag up for a relative who was interested in history and the Second World War. He said the flag had been posted through his door by an unknown person.
He said he checked the internet to see if Nazi flags were banned before flying. Billy said he then made the decision after checking that they were legal.
Billy, who has lived at the address for 49 years, said: “The flag was pushed through the letter box one Saturday.
“I was a bit concerned I would upset people. I was worrying with it being a dodgy flag – and it doesn’t get much more dodgy than that.
“If it had been banned I wouldn’t have done it. I’m going off what somebody said on the computer.”
Billy, who was also a shipyard worker, has flags from different countries that he puts up in his garden.
He said: “I put different flags up. It’s something to do. I had a Sierra Leone one, I’ve just taken it down. I have got storage boxes, about three or four of them, and I just pick one out.”
Billy said he puts up flags from around the world but he wouldn’t put a Union Jack one up.
When asked why, he replied: “With the state of this country, you’re kidding?”
He took the Nazi flag down on Tuesday after becoming aware of the backlash. He added: “I’ll still fly my flags but this one is definitely gone.”