Four Feathers To The 15 British Sailors

This is a movie that is one of my favorites. The Four Feathers, produced in England in 1939. I loved it so much I bought the video. It was remade a few years ago, but nothing can compare to the original, it is the best.
A British army officer, Harry Faversahn, trains all day and even has time to conquer beautiful Ethne. With that Harry decides to leave the army, but good things do not last forever, so in the evening of his engagement party his regiment is call to arms to Egypt to fight against the wicked Egyptian rebels. But Harry refuses and so his former best friends send him three feathers, a sophisticated way to call him a coward. But the fourth, ah! the fourth one is the most terrible of all because it is Ethne who gives it to him.
So our hero is an outcast, nodoby loves him, nodoby cares for him. And Harry proving that after all he is a Favershan, embarks to Egypt to save his comrades. Disguised as a mute native he saves them all. Crosses the dessert, saves Durrance (who is in love with Ethne too), saves Willoughby and Burroughs from a dreadful prision and evidently gives back each of the four feathers.
This movie celebrates courage and determination. Something that the 15 Brits taken hostage will never be able to do. Oh they are trying the I am a Hero now thing, but that is just not the case. They handled this wrong from the get go imo.
This movie I mentioned came to mind not when the 15 sailors were taken hostage, but when they were released. They are just not the ” Let’s Roll” character that sets a person apart and each thing they are doing now confrims it even more. I don’t have a lot of sympathy or respect for the way these hostages handled themselves. It definitely is not a shining moment for the British military. It does not live up to the proud history of their military.
And to make matters worse once they were released, some were effusive in their praise for the Iranians, apologizing yet again for their intrusion! sheesh!
Let’s compare something here…..
From the 15 hostages:
* We were blindfolded and subjected to interrogation
* We were told we faced seven years in prison if we did not ‘confess’
* Iranians entered Iraqi waters deliberately to detain us. Fighting back was not an option
* We were 1.7 nautical miles away from Iranian waters
* We were under psychological pressure and mind games
* Faye Turney was isolated in a cell away from the rest of the crew
* All 15 of them had been blindfolded, handcuffed and pushed against a wall by their Iranian captors
* they heard the sound of guns being cocked – and believed they were about to be shot by firing squad.
They were fed three times a day and given cigarettes. They were given clothes and slept on blankets. There certainly was nothing “brutal” about their treatment. The soldiers, and one must keep in mind they were soldiers, decided to roll over and cooperate with their captors almost immediately with little evidence of overt coercion.
But wait that is not all, now there are book deals being made. The former captives are expected to make around £250,000 between them. Faye Turney, the 26-year-old seawoman, is likely to get the most profitable deal. She is said to have sold her story for £150,000 in a joint contract with a newspaper and ITV.
In contrast let’s look at a different kind of Britt:

John Peters came to the world’s attention in January 1991, when his bruised and battered face flashed onto television screens around the world. On the first day of the Gulf War, a British Tornado bomber crewed by John Peters and John Nichol was shot down over Iraqi territory and the two men were captured. After four days of mental and physical torture, they were forcibly shown on Iraqi television. It was John Peters’ disfigured image that became a potent symbol of Saddam Hussein’s ruthless aggression.
John’s powerful and moving story focuses on how he coped with both the brutal physical and mental pressure inflicted on him by his captors. His dramatic and sometimes harrowing experiences reach deep into our innermost minds, showing us how we can overcome even our worst fears and nightmares. He inspires and motivates people with his own dramatic account of his experiences during Operation Desert Storm. His war was not all as he expected – it became a seven-week ordeal of torture and interrogation testing John Peters to the absolute limit and bringing him close to death.

Thinking about these things and comparing it to our troops that were taken hostage and prisoner in other wars, such as Vietnam. I will NEVER forget the brave American troops, prisoners of former wars, who endured years of captive isolation without disclosing any information, even under torture. And England has its own Greatest Generation, troops who fought a determined and superior enemy while vowing never to surrender. As Churchill observed, that was England’s finest hour. I have posted on here at TW of Brits that have been brave, I have thanked England for their support in our war against Islam. But when it comes to these 15, they reflect on their country and their military and what a pity it is they will not be able to hold their heads high knowing they did all they could, and that their whinning of their so called torture is making them look even worse.
Heroes show up when the time calls for it, these 15 did not show up. For these 15 the 4 Feather comes to mind.