He was obviously an extraordinary man, with a disability which turned out to be quite an advantage in the type of warfare he was engaged in, at a time when Britain badly needed heroes. It was certainly his time, and nobody can take that away from him.
But that sort of strength of character, single-mindedness, and sheer obstinacy comes at a price, and doesn’t rub very well with others who don’t have it, or just want a quiet life.
I remember a TV interview that summed Bader up in my opinion. His medical orderly at Colditz , a Seaforth Highlander named Alex Ross, was treated like a slave, and even had to carry Bader up flights of stairs in the castle, spurred on by the ‘jockey’ if he dawdled.
As a non-combatant Ross could have been liberated and been back in the UK some 18 months before he was, but Bader refused to let him go back – he needed him there as his ‘skivvy’. Ross had bitter memories of Bader, and called him a few choice names on TV, the worst of which rhymed with ‘punt’…
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