[atomic conspiracy]

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. All hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day…"

Winston Churchill, 1940

Time to pay up, then.

[Doogle]

One of the most decorated British fighter pilots of the Second World War has sold his medals, diaries and other memorabilia partly to pay for a hip replacement operation for his wife who faced at least a six-month wait on the National Health Service.

socialized medicine

Doogle

[Republicus2001]

Bushfault!

[No Truce With Kings]

Just damn.

[randog]

This article doesn't explain it (or perhaps I missed it), but what exactly is Mr. Duke paying for--a shorter wait under the socialist system or a private operation?

[Diva Betsy Ross]

6 Months!!! Sheesh... welcome to socialized health care. This is a sad story for more than one reason. I wish he could get his medals back.

[si tacuissem]

This thread should become a tribute to this distinguished soldier - and not only the necessary bashing for the NHS.

[Joe 6-pack]

Parting with the medals is clearly a decision to be made by him and him alone. I know that during the course of my life, there have been little totems that I held dear as powerful symbols of meaningful accomplishments and experiences, yet with the passage of time, I've abandoned, lost, bartered away, etc. having come to the conclusion that the symbols were external and ephemeral, whereas that which they represented is eternal, or at least will be carried with me to my grave.

Or maybe his old lady just kept nagging him. I don't know.

[patton]

air ace ping.

[atomic conspiracy]

WB188, the prototype Hawker Hunter in which Neville Duke set the world's speed record in 1953, on display at the Tangmere Aviation Museum.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I question whether she could survive a hip replacement at 85...

[AZLiberty]

Fighter ace sells medals to spare wife long wait for hip replacement

Once more a hero.

[wolficatZ]

http://www.ramhospital.com/

[Winniesboy]

Neville Duke! There's a name to conjure with. The pin-up boy's hero of my generation. For a time he was the most famous man in England, occupying the sort of niche now held by the likes of Beckham. And I actually saw him in the famous red Hunter at the Farnborough air show of 1953, when he famously executed victory rolls directly over the heads of the crowd, in contemptuous defiance of the organisers who had banned the manoeuvre after an accident. Alas, my own attempts to build a balsa-wood Hunter (one of the most beautiful aircraft of all time, incidentally) were pretty pathetic.

[Smokin' Joe]

God Bless this Man. Once a Hero, always a Hero. Selling the lot to get his wife an operation.

As for socialized medicine, a different and darker sentiment applies.