Disabled Veterans Jeered At Swimming Pool

Disabled veterans jeered at swimming pool
Telegraph.co.uk
Injured soldiers who lost their limbs fighting for their country have been driven from a swimming pool training session by jeering members of the public.
The men, injured during tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, were taking part in a rehabilitation session at a leisure centre, when two women demanded they be removed from the pool. They claimed that the soldiers “hadn’t paid” and might scare the children.
The incident has sparked widespread condemnation. Adml Lord Boyce, a former head of the Armed Forces, said last night the women should be “named and shamed”.

“These people are beneath contempt and everything should be done to get their names and publish them in the press,” he said. “It is contemptible that people who have given up their limbs for their country should be so abused when they are trying to get fit again.”

It comes after calls for the public to do more to welcome home troops back from tours of duty and to recognise the bravery of those fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The unpleasant scenes broke out at Leatherhead Leisure Centre in Surrey when the wounded veterans, who are at Headley Court Military Hospital, had to use the 25-metre public pool because the hydro-pool at the defence rehabilitation centre is not big enough for swimming.
The servicemen were about to begin their weekly swimming therapy in closed-off lanes when they were verbally abused by the swimmers.
One woman in her 30s was said to be infuriated by the lane closures saying the soldiers did not deserve to be there when she had paid.
It was also reported that others complained that limbless servicemen were scaring children at the centre.
The atmosphere was said to be so tense that the soldiers’ instructors removed them.

Charles Murrin, 79, a Navy veteran who saw the incident, said: “The woman said the men do not deserve to be in there and that she pays to come in the pool and they don’t. I spoke to the instructor in the changing room afterwards and he was livid.”

It is not the first time that Headley Court neighbours have been accused of poor behaviour.
There was uproar earlier this year after residents objected to planning permission to convert a home into a six-suite hostel for injured soldiers’ families to stay in. The local council later approved the building work.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “We are disappointed that a small number of people objected to the closure of swimming lanes so that patients of Headley Court could use them.”
The incident comes weeks after the Help For Heroes appeal was launched to raise £5 million to build a full-size pool and gym at the centre.
Labour will today aim to repair its battered reputation with the Armed Forces by offering all military veterans priority NHS treatment, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
The concession, ordered by the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, will be available to the estimated 4.8 million ex-servicemen and women, sources said last night.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
OK I am so angry about this I can hardly type. My hands are shaking I am so outraged.
The people that did this are a total waste of the air they breath. I would say it to their faces if I could!!!!!!
There are certain things that send me over the edge and this is one of them. Treating our troops badly, our Veterans badly and our disabled troops and Vets badly. It is a top priority with me that every single Veteran and our troops today know they are cared about, appreciated and respected. This is a total outrage beyond the pale and there is NO DAMN EXCUSE FOR WHAT THESE PEOPLE DID AND SAID.
The kind of person that can be like these people have been are not worth spit! Their lives are insignificant! The world is NOT a better place because they exist! They are selfish, self absorbed, POS, that walk the earth like brain dead zombies, using the freedom’s they have to spew their vile attitudes and should never be allowed to get away with it. Telling them off is not enough, there should be some kind of punishment delivered to this kind of person. Something that will cause them to remember how evil they are. I hope they burn in hell! And THAT is letting them off easy!

….Thank you Jack ( Conservative Insurgent Blog ) for sending this to me.