An Army Recipient of a Naval Medal

Bringing joy THESE days talking about Britain’s history, particularly military history, and not being political is difficult; it does seem rather that the history so many of us grew up with is being rewritten, or at least revised, as “decolonisation” becomes the buzzword of the mid-2020s. Decolonisation was originally meant to be simply the process by which a formerly colonised country rid itself of the trappings of its past and re-discovered its original cultural identity. Nothing wrong with that one may argue, it makes perfect sense, however, the term has recently been extended to encompass a desire by certain groups to look at the history and culture of the colonising country in a different way, insisting that the history of that country, if written by the colonisers themselves, was naturally distorted in their favour, and was therefore subjective and not objective. The University of Lincoln for example says this: “A decolonised approach seeks to refocus the camera, as it were, to allow for a full picture, a more realistic representation of the world that challenges and interrogates the Eurocentric world” . Those opposing decolonisation argue that the same thing is happening now but in reverse, with those eager to hear “different voices” simply wanting to hear the voices with whom they agree whilst ignoring those they don’t want to hear. We have seen in recent years how those associated with the days of Empire are being vilified, how statues are being removed, streets are being renamed and how our universities and museums are steering clear of anything that might be seen to glorify our colonial past. One can’t help but wonder whether the decision to close the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum didn’t have something to do with decolonisation, after all, it isn’t exactly politically correct to talk about bravery these days, particularly when that bravery came at the cost of native lives. Of course the desire to do Britain down isn’t solely related to our colonial past. Over a decade ago when the Bentley Priory Battle of Britain medal exhibition was first established, the information boards had to be hastily rewritten after the original displays spoke not of the gallantry of the Spitfire and Hurricane pilots, but rather the inexperience of the Luftwaffe and how tired and underfed the German pilots were. All too often it is deemed almost distasteful to laud our success, far better to make excuses for the other guys. But what exactly does that all mean for us as medal collectors? Should we start looking at our collections differently? Start asking whether or not there was another side to the stories of heroes and battles, stories we grew up with? Maybe, but I’d have to ask why? Certainly, if you are seriously studying history, seeking a PhD or hoping to work in a University, then just doing your research by reading Boy’s Own stories or watching films like Zulu is probably a mistake (although in fact the film, usually condemned as being a classic case of colonial whitewashing, is far more praising of the Zulus than it is often given credit for). We all know that the books, comics, TV programmes and films we grew up with aren’t cold hard facts, they are dramas, historically slightly dodgy in places and embellished for a particular audience and yes many of us will be collecting medals based on those historically suspect retellings but that’s OK. It doesn’t actually matter if your collection of Egypt and Sudan medals was put together because you loved The Four Feathers, or if you collect World War I medals because you once came across a copy of Deeds that Thrill the Empire in a second-hand bookstore, what matters is that you enjoy what you do. If you are going to start picking apart every story, examining every single action that resulted in a gallantry award that now resides in your collection and viewing it from today’s perspective then fine, that’s up to you, but me? I’m going to leave things well alone; I don’t want to deconstruct or decolonise the stories, don’t want to start becoming critical of the past, I like the Boy’s Own stories, I like the films, and I like having a collection of medals associated with some of those tales. Am I treating it all as gospel? No, but what I am doing is enjoying my collection, because that’s what it’s all about, this is a hobby, it supposed to be enjoyable. When we forget that there’s no real point in it at all.