From http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3446048/Fury-Angela-Merkel-s-attack-dog-threatens-UK-trade-war-Brexit-claims-t-survive-without-us.html Cash was four years old when his father, Captain Paul Cash, was killed in Normandy on July 13, 1944, at the age of 26. He won the Military Cross for his bravery and is still so revered in Fontaine-Etoupefour, where he fell, that they recently named a community centre after him.Tory MP and son of a war hero compares current situation to pre-war Europe and warns Britain is heading for APPEASEMENT Anti-EU Tory grandee Sir Bill Cash is sitting in front me, slumped in an armchair in his Commons office, sobbing uncontrollably. It is a shock: 6ft 4in tall and ramrod straight, Cash is the quintessential buttoned-up English gent in his pin-striped suit. But not today. He whispers through tears: ‘I’m proud of my dad, he was in the front line of the front line. The tanks... just came right at him.’ He is talking, painfully, about the moment that shaped his life, his destiny, perhaps Britain’s too. Seventy one years ago, young Cash was at home with his mother Moyra when a postman arrived at the door with a telegram. Just like the mother in the opening sequence of Stephen Spielberg’s D-Day film, Saving Private Ryan, Moyra Cash collapsed even before it was handed to her. When its contents were explained to Bill, the little boy told her: ‘Don’t worry mummy, I will look after you.’ I have known Cash since he became an MP in 1984. He and I have discussed D-Day before: my dad was there, but survived. But I have never seen him like this and awkwardly reach out a hand to this weeping giant as he recovers his composure. ‘She never got over it,’ he says, dabbing his eyes and sipping a glass of water. In truth, I had not intended to interview Cash. His intellect and unflinching patriotic principles have earned him private audiences – and respect – from world leaders as diverse as Margaret Thatcher and Helmut Schmidt. But I confess that, when he made a beeline for me in the Commons, my first instinct was to give him the slip. Never mind speak for England, at times it can seem that Bill can bore for England on the subject of Brussels – and he wanted to bend my ear over David Cameron’s ‘worthless’ EU referendum deal and the way it was being spun as a historic triumph by No 10. I listened politely. It was only when he mentioned the word ‘appeasement’ and an unusual picture in his office that my ears pricked up – and accepted his invitation to go and inspect it. Capt Cash would immediately recognise the photograph that dominates his son’s dingy office: a sepia tinted portrait of Neville Chamberlain, the man who tried to appease Hitler. Disconcertingly but deliberately, it stands on the window sill upside down. Permanently. It is a copy of a photo that appeared in the Illustrated London News when Chamberlain came back from his infamous talks with Hitler in Munich in 1938 waving his ‘peace in our time’ bit of paper. Cash draws my attention to the caption, attributed to Chamberlain’s notorious Tory propagandist, Sir Joseph Ball. Said to be Britain’s first ever spin doctor, he makes Alastair Campbell look like a saint. Ball was a pro-Nazi, pro-appeasement, anti-semitic, former spy who smeared Churchill with dirty tricks. Incredibly, the caption fawns over Hitler and Mussolini for helping Chamberlain ‘steer Britain towards the port of peace.’ It talks of Chamberlain’s ‘immensely enhanced prestige in Germany’ and how he had ‘abundantly fulfilled the hopes of Il Duce.’ YOU can imagine where my headline-grabbing thoughts were heading: ‘Tory PM lands at Heathrow after crisis talks with German dominated Europe as Conservative spin doctors claim he has saved Britain’s sovereignty.’ Chamberlain? Or Cameron? Cash reads my mind. ‘I am NOT comparing Cameron to Chamberlain,’ he says emphatically. Here is how he puts it: ‘Appeasement means to placate. By accepting the EU as it is now, we are placating them. And we know who runs the show.’ [He means Germany] ‘As Churchill said, we should be associated with Europe but not be absorbed by it.’
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9052044 . LG https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36753/supplement/4786/data.pdf
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2060825/ CASH, PAUL TREVOR Rank: Captain Service No: 124061 Date of Death: 13/07/1944 Age: 26 Regiment/Service: Royal Artillery 112 (The West Somerset Yeomanry) Field Regt. Awards: M C Grave Reference: X. H. 7. Cemetery: ST. MANVIEU WAR CEMETERY, CHEUX Additional Information: Son of Samuel Ernest and Edith Lilias Cash, of Wallington, Surrey; husband of Moyra Margaret Elizabeth Cash.
Thanks Diane, this topic and news article was discussed briefly on the Andrew Marr show this morning.
Some extracts regarding Capt Cash from the 112 Fd Regt history by Goddard, Rankin & Vigers. page 50 ..Maltot was completely ringed by arty fire controlled by Hubert Penrose and Capt Paul Cash . Both won MC's for this action. page 51 Maj Penrose and Capt Cash returned to the Regt on the evening of the 10th Maj Penrose is wounded in the arms and Capt Cash has slight facial injuries . Both these officers did a magnificent job under very trying circumstances and without their calm and accurate direction of fire our infantry could not of held out as long as they did. page 54 Whilst there was less firing over the next two days the fighting on the ground continued and on the 12th Capt Paul Cash MC, who had already been wounded , was killed when a mortar exploded over the slit trench in which he was sheltering. The death of Capt Cash nbow meant that four OP officers had been killed .
Personally I find this story rather distasteful. It is no surprise that Europhobe Bill Cash draws parallels between Angela Merkel and Adolf Hitler. However, this is far from a valid parallel. If it offers any insight into WW2 it is that the nationalist passions and hatred of the era are still a force and have champions in our politicians and media. My father who also served as a Gunner in 43 Wessex Division ended the war with the conviction that the ordinary people of Europe had much in common and became a supporter of the EU. He spent the 1950s establishing sporting links between schools in Britain the Netherlands,Germany. I think WW2 talk ought to be a "referendum free zone"
Cheers for that Rob, you're a star - again. Sheldrake I think it's worthwhile trying to separate - parts at least of - a WW2 story from the chaff which was what I was attempting as per topic title . Oh well EU discussion can be read/contributed to in Barracks - or mostly ignored which is what I've been doing.
