How modern-day Britain treats its heroes

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. Sqn Ldr Neville Duke, 83, the Royal Air Force’s top-scoring ace in the Mediterranean theatre who set a world air speed record of 728 mph in 1953, put the collection up for auction rather than subject his wife Gwen to months of pain and discomfort while she waited for an operation.

The standard waiting time for hip replacements in the orthopaedic department at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, one of the nearest facilities to the Dukes’ home, is six months. Mrs Duke, who has been in pain with her hip for eight months, was told by her chiropractor that the wait might be 15 months.

Before the sale Mrs Duke, 85, explained: “It is very likely I will need a new hip and that is something we just cannot afford. If I went on a NHS waiting list I would have to wait forever, and at my age that’s no good. ‘By selling Neville’s things we will be able to pay for the hip. We pulled out of BUPA because they practically doubled the rate when we reached 60. “There are other important reasons, such as security, for selling. He’s very upset about it.” In the event, the auction at Dix Noonan Webb in Mayfair raised £138,000, some £8,000 of which would be required for an operation. The medals went to a private British collector.

Sqn Ldr Duke’s DSO, awarded in the field after he shot down seven enemy aircraft in seven days, DFC and two bars, Air Force Cross and OBE for his achievements as a test pilot for Hawker form one of the finest collections of medals accrued by a pilot of his generation. The lots also included the ripcord he pulled when he baled out for the second time in the war and came near to drowning in an Italian lake after almost falling out of his harness. Sqn Ldr Duke said the decision to sell the medals was a hard one but had been forced upon him by worries about his wife’s condition, security at the family home following three burglaries, the cost of insuring the collection and the desire to keep it together, the couple having no children….

Still an active pilot after 65 years, Sqn Ldr Duke flew 485 sorties in the war, shooting down 27 aircraft and sharing two more kills, a performance that placed him in the league of pilots such as “Bob” Stanford Tuck and second only to “Johnnie” Johnson. During his tour in North Africa he was shot down by the Luftwaffe ace Otto Schulz, but managed to crash land. In September 1953 he took the world air speed record from the Americans when his all-red Hawker Hunter reached 728 mph over Tangmere, Kent.

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Posted by jonjayray on Friday, December 9, 2005 at 06:45 AM in Oh Tempora, Oh Mores
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Comments:

Posted by Tournament of Champions on December 09, 2005, 07:43 AM | #

I think the selfishness and euthanasia questions figure prominently… at some point, when the body is going, when the marginal revenue curve has irreversibly sunk below the marginal cost curve, one has to decide it’s time to stop soaking up the nation’s resources and move on. 85 is not too young.

Posted by TRI on December 09, 2005, 09:09 AM | #

Oh, but TOC you don’t understand!

The whole purpose of life is to keep living as long as possible, never mind your descendents. Marx told me so.

Baaaaaa!

Posted by Martin Hutchinson on December 09, 2005, 10:37 AM | #

8000 quid’s a bargain for a hip replacement compared to US costs (at least on the coasts). He must have run through the family fortune with all those dinners at the Berkeley (mentioned in the article) so has none left —that dinner’s probably around 8,000 quid by now.

Nice that he’s still flying at 83. Not quite ready for euthanasia yet, I think.

Posted by Svigor on December 09, 2005, 03:32 PM | #

TOC, you just reminded me of something. I don’t know if you’re Chinese or Euro, but apparently you live in China so either way you probably have an insight.

How do you think the NE Asian propensity for valuing the elderly and for families to care for them in senescence will fare as average life expectancy increases dramatically over time?

Posted by Tournament of Champions on December 10, 2005, 04:04 AM | #

How do you think the NE Asian propensity for valuing the elderly and for families to care for them in senescence will fare as average life expectancy increases dramatically over time?

Can I duck that with an “I dunno”? Actually I do have lots to say wrt to the economic and cultural evolution aspects, but nothing that can be condensed to a few paragraphs.

Posted by Gustaw Leon on December 07, 2011, 11:32 AM | #

The lots also included the ripcord he pulled when he baled out for the second time in the war and came near to drowning in an Italian lake after almost falling out of his harness. Thanks mate