Dambusters dog: Headstone replaced to remove racist name - #RIPNigger

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The RAF said the gravestone had been replaced "as part of an ongoing review of its historical assets"
A gravestone honouring the Dambusters' dog - whose name is a racial slur - has been replaced.

The 617 Squadron's mascot, a black Labrador, died on the day of its famous "bouncing bomb" raid on German dams in 1943.

A memorial at the Dambusters' World War Two base, RAF Scampton, bearing the dog's name was removed.

The RAF said it did not want to give prominence to an offensive term that went against its ethos.

Sir Edward Leigh, Conservative MP for Gainsborough, said he was "very fearful of our ability today to erase or re-write history".
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The dog's grave is at RAF Scampton, home to an exhibition about the mission, known as Operation Chastise
Kris Hendrix, campaigns manager at the RAF Museum, said the dog - which the BBC is not naming - was a "drinking buddy" for squadron members and would consume litres of beer before passing out.

He was hit by a car and killed on 16 May 1943, but his death was kept from the airmen as it was feared they might see it as a bad omen.

Mr Hendrix added: "It was such a famous dog, it was such a famous squadron and that meant the grave has been kept until today.

"The standards have changed throughout the years, while it may not have been a controversial name during the Second World War, things are very different now."

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The Labrador was owned by the squadron's wing commander, Guy Gibson (centre)
Sir Edward said he had written to the station commander of RAF Scampton about the change.

In his letter, shared with the BBC, he said: "Undoubtedly we are both more sensitive and more sensible today when it comes to the delicateness of racialist and derogatory terminology which had been used with unfortunate informality in the past.

"I am, however, very fearful of our ability today to erase or re-write history. The past needs to be explained, taught about, and learned from - not re-written."


 
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On Guam, there's a memorial to Marine dogs. I bet it's not long for this world; one of the names is "Nig."
 
This was a decision made internally by the RAF which is the most woke of all the services.
 
He was hit by a car and killed on 16 May 1943, but his death was kept from the airmen as it was feared they might see it as a bad omen.
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So he didn't know how to use a crosswalk? Sounds like his name was accurate.
 
fare well little Nigger, we hardly knew thee. As for the RAF what a bunch of twats, you would find more competent people at the local pub.
 
Imperialist #348 said:
As for the RAF what a bunch of twats, you would find more competent people at the local pub.
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This is of topic but I fucking hate the RAF....There were rumours that after the Battle of Bastion the same RAF regiment who had somehow waved a bunch of Taliban onto camp, were caught on camera taking their body armour of and shooting it, so they could claim they'd been in the thick of the fighting.

It was hushed up becaue the US Marines were pissed about the dozen or so jets the Taliban had been able to destroy, as well as the marines they killed in the process.

In typical British Military fashion, they turned one of the worst fuck ups in modern RAF history, into a heroic story of the RAF bravely shooting it out with the taliban.
 
> Get a little black dog that is supposed to serve and protect you for life
> Name it Nigger, makes sense right
> Your great great grandchildren demonize you for fighting for your freedom alongside Nigger
> Perhaps the fight was not worth it
 
That's.... Really fucked up. That was the dog's name. That's what it likely responded to. He died while his owner was in battle, and the unit pooled money together to honor him.

I'm honestly terrified to see what's next? "Unpopular" historical figures have their gravesites removed?
 
Just_Somebody said:
That's.... Really fucked up. That was the dog's name. That's what it likely responded to. He died while his owner was in battle, and the unit pooled money together to honor him.
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It's kind of worse than that, the dog died just before the mission was to launch.

Max Hastings published a book on the Dam Busters last year and he went into a lot of detail on it, implying it had a great effect on Gibson. Made worse by the fact that the ground crew he tasked to bury the dog somehow managed to fuck it up, and as he thought he was most likely going to die himself a few hours later, he had to sort the burial himself.

A few months before this a car he was a passenger in hit a sheep and people noted how upset he was after (at this point Gibson had already done two tours as a bomber pilot).
 
Nigger had been used as a name for lots of things often brown or black from butterflies to shoe polish but even without that being the truth its still such a shitty state we are in that memorials for a dog is being renamed because of current year politics.
 
Just_Somebody said:
That's.... Really fucked up. That was the dog's name. That's what it likely responded to. He died while his owner was in battle, and the unit pooled money together to honor him.

I'm honestly terrified to see what's next? "Unpopular" historical figures have their gravesites removed?
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In Europe this ahs been happening for a few years now. But of course, with non acceptable people like dictators, explorers and conquerors. I remember one particular time where in Spain they wanted to rename a street because the name was related to the exploitation and subyugation of the people of South America (street was named Discovery Street btw). This reached the point that last year they unearthed the remains of Franco from his grave so he wouldn't be buried in a state property. All while wasting public money into giving him a second burial. That event was extremely memeworthy.

Thank God mongolians don't give a fuck. I wouldn't want them to remove their baller as fuck giant statue of Temujin (AKA, Ghengis Khan).
 
My grandmother had a dog she named "Blackie". Guess I'd better go back through the photo albums and make sure to change the name so there's no chance I'll be raided by the thought police. (Although, it wasn't a racist thing with my grandmother -- she just had no creativity when it came to names. The next dog was named "Brownie" because it was brown. Then the next one was "Pup". She always picked the worst names.)

In hindsight, Nigger was a poor choice of names. But he was a good boy and dindu nuffin. He shouldn't be disrespected like this. RIP Nigger. ❤
 
Trig.Point said:
RAF regiment
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There's only one RAF regiment. It's for people who washed out of flight training and couldn't make it in the real army. When I tried to join the RAF they said I wasn't fit to fly (something about my eyes) and offered me a spot in the regiment instead. I told them I'd rather clean sewers for a living, because then at least I'd be doing something useful and productive. I can only imagine the unit has gone downhill after the steaming, streaming shits Major and then Blair sprayed over the forces in the 90s.
 
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