Category: War
100-Year-Old Veteran on Live TV: We Fought WW II for Nothing, Britain Less Free Than in 1945
A centenarian Royal Navy veteran took full advantage of an appearance on live television to express his sorrow at the state of modern Britain, saying he and his comrades fought for freedom that has been frittered away, eliciting what critics called a “patronising” response by show hosts.
Royal Navy and Arctic Convoy veteran Alec Penstone told Britain’s ITV breakfast show “the sacrifice wasn’t worth” what the country has since become, mourning the loss of freedom he and his friends fought and died for.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain on Friday for a segment on the upcoming Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day on November 11th, Penstone was asked what the events commemorating fallen troops from the two World Wars meant, and what his message to the country now is.
Far from the feel-good sentiments the piece had evidently been set up for, 100-year-old Penstone remarked: “I can see in my mind’s eye those rows and rows of white stones.
“All the hundreds of my friends, everybody else, who gave their lives. For what? The country of today. No, I’m sorry, the sacrifice wasn’t worth the result that it is now.”
Comedian Adil Ray, best known for creating Citizen Khan, a BBC comedy about a “British Pakistani” family living in “the capital of British Pakistan” — Birmingham, England — quickly interjected to ask of the veteran: “what do you mean by that, though?”.
Penstone continued: “what we fought for was our freedom. We find that even now, it’s a darn sight worse than what it was when I fought for it”.
Ray’s co-host Kate Garraway, a former journalist and news presenter, placed her hand on Penstone’s shoulder and reassured him that people of her generation did appreciate the sacrifice of the veteran and his friends, before announcing that he was to be presented with a compact-disc of Second World War-era popular music in thanks.
British academic Professor David Betz was among those responding to the turn of events, calling Penstone’s remarks “heartbreaking” and the response from the television hosts “patronising” and “simply infuriating”.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron (L) greets 98-year-old British D-Day veteran Alec Penstone during the UK Ministry of Defence and the Royal British Legion’s commemorative ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the World War II “D-Day” Allied landings in Normandy France, on June 6, 2024. (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
According to a profile by the Royal British Legion, a prominent veterans organisation, Penstone was a young man when the Second World War broke out and initially volunteered as a messenger for the Air Raid Precautions organisation in London during the height of the Blitz.
He said of his time in London during some of the worst bombing of the war: “The moments at 15 years of age, pulling bodies out of bombed buildings you grow up very quickly.”
His father, a veteran of the Great War, made Penstone vow not to serve in an infantry role due to the horrors he’d witnessed in the trenches in the Great War. So he joined the Royal Navy as a submarine-detector, and ended up in one of the most deadly assignments of the Second World War, on the Arctic Convoys. He also served in mine sweeping to clear the sea ready for the D-Day landings, and in the far east, fighting Japan.
The Imperial War Museum states of the Arctic Convoys delivering materiel to the Soviet Union to help them fight Nazi Germany:
Conditions were among the worst faced by any Allied sailors. As well as the Germans, they faced extreme cold, gales and pack ice. The loss rate for ships was higher than any other Allied convoy route.
Over four million tons of supplies were delivered to the Russians. As well as tanks and aircraft, these included less sensational but still vital items like trucks, tractors, telephone wire, railway engines and boots.
While appearing on television today, Mr Penstone was seen wearing the distinctive white beret and badge of the Arctic Convoy Club, a veterans organisation for survivors which disbanded in 2005, given it had so few surviving members.
On his left breast he wore a rack of British medals from his war service including the 1939-45 Star, the Atlantic Star, the Arctic Star, the Pacific Star for service in Burma, and Defence Medal for his service in the ARP.
Separately on a red ribbon, Penstone wore the insignia for a Knight of the Légion d’honneur for role in liberation of France. In 2024, Penstone was personally greeted by French President Emmanuel Macron and thanked for his service.
On his right breast, Penstone wore several Russian Medals including Medal of Ushakov for convoys, and USSR-era convoy medals.
While these are not authorised for wear by Britons in uniform, it is normal practice for British veterans of the Arctic Convoys to wear them on the right breast in this way.
The Night Stalkers, officially known as the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), were created in April 1980, out of the ashes of the disaster at Desert One, the failed attempt to rescue American hostages held in Tehran after the Shah of Iran was overthrown.
President Carter ordered Chief of Naval Operations Admiral James Holloway to devise a plan for a successful second attempt at rescue.
Holloway looked to the U.S. Army for pilots and personnel to be trained in short-notice Special Operations Missions. The Army looked to the 101st Aviation group of the 101st Airborne Division Air Assault at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, since they had the most experience in helicopter operations. Personnel from several 101st battalions were selected, but since the majority came from the 158th Aviation Battalion, the new unit was dubbed Task Force 158. Training began for the unit, with CH-47s and UH-60 Blackhawks. The OH-6 Cayuse from the days of Vietnam was resurrected and conducted training in a secluded part of the base.
After the first class completed their training in the fall of 1980, a second rescue operation, dubbed “Honey Badger,” was scheduled for early 1981, but was called off at the last minute when the Iranians released the hostages on the morning of President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration.
Task Force 158 was recognized as the premier Army Aviation unit, and their special training was not going to be wasted. On October 16, 1981, the Task Force was transferred into a separate unit from the 101st and was redesignated as the 160th Aviation Battalion. The original class of Night Stalkers called it “The Day the Eagles Came Off.”
There were several unit name changes over the years, and in May 1990, the unit was redesignated the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne).
Recruitment & Training for 160th SOAR
Recruitment for the 160th comes from volunteers throughout the Army, as well as selections made by the U.S. Army Human Resources Command based on the unit’s required MOS’s. There are positions available for Enlisted, Warrant, and Officers in certain MOSs.
The training to become a member of the 160th is intense, to put it mildly. A recruit arrives and is assigned to the Green Platoon, where they receive intensive training in areas such as first responder, teamwork, combatives, land navigation, and weapons. Weapons training includes thousands of rounds of practice with the M4 rifle, M9 9mm, M17 9mm, and the Kalashnikov AK-47 & AK-74.
The Green Platoon is used to weed out any substandard soldiers who do not have what it takes to be a Night Stalker. Any soldier who passes this course proceeds to the Basic Night Stalker Course.
Pilots arrive as Basic Mission Qualified. After passing a series of skills tests on leadership, experience, and oral review boards, a process that can take up to three years, the pilot is designated fully mission-qualified.
A Night Stalker flight medic can be qualified as a special operations combat medic after completing a 36-week combat medic course at Ft Bragg, North Carolina.
The Night Stalkers Creed
“I pledge to maintain my body, mind, and equipment in a constant state of readiness, for I am a member of the fastest deployable task force in the world, ready to move at a moment’s notice anytime, anywhere, arriving time on target plus or minus 30 seconds.”
“Night Stalkers Don’t Quit”
The 160th became known as the “Night Stalkers” because they pioneered the Army’s nighttime flying techniques, giving it the capability to strike undetected in the darkness. They continue to develop new technology and tactics for the battlefield. In every major combat operation since Grenada, the 160th has demonstrated that they live by their motto, “Night Stalkers Don’t Quit.”
Aircraft
Boeing MH-47G Chinook: This ain’t your father’s Chinook. The CH-47 Chinook, which took its first flight in 1961, has been involved with every conflict since then. It’s a tandem rotor heavy lift helicopter designed initially for troop and cargo transport. It has been heavily modified over the years for the 160th SOAR.
Sikorsky MH-60L/M: The L model is a Direct Action Penetrator version of the Black Hawk that’s been configured as a helicopter gunship and used exclusively by the 160th SOAR. Most are equipped with twin M-134D Miniguns.
McDonnell Douglas MH-6: This helicopter dates back to the OH-6 Cayuse, which was used during the Vietnam War. Now highly modified for the Night Stalker Mission
General Atomics MQ-1C Surveillance Drone: This drone is the Eyes of the Night Stalkers, providing pre-operation intelligence as well as real-time surveillance.
SOAR Locations
The Night Stalkers are based in three different locations.
- 1st Battalion: Fort Campbell, Kentucky
- 2nd Battalion: Fort Campbell, Kentucky
- 3rd battalion: Hunter Army Airfield, Ga
- 4th Battalion: Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington
Publicly Known Night Stalker Operations
The 160th has participated in numerous operations from its inception. Here are just a few of them.
Operation Just Cause: 1989 marked the debut of the Night Stalkers, who spearheaded the operation to remove Dictator Manuel Noriega from Panama.
Desert Storm, Desert Shield, and the Global War on Terror: Beginning in 1991, the Night Stalkers have participated in hundreds of missions throughout the Middle East. In 2003, they took part in the rescue of PFC Jessica Lynch, who was taken prisoner during the Battle of Nasiriyah. Also in 2003, Saddam Hussein, who was captured in Operation Red Dawn, was exfiltrated to Baghdad International Airport by a SOAR MH-6 Little Bird and placed into custody.
The Battle of Mogadishu: In October 1993, the 160th was tasked, along with U.S. Army Rangers and Delta Force operators, to participate in Operation Gothic Serpent.
The result was the Battle of Mogadishu, which was the subject of a book and movie entitled Black Hawk Down. The Night Stalkers were stationed in Somalia, as part of Task Force Ranger, alongside a multinational group tasked with capturing Mohamed Farah Aidid, a local warlord who had declared himself President of Somalia.
On this day, the 160th was on a mission to capture two of Aidid’s top men. The Delta operators successfully captured Aidid’s henchman while air units were taking heavy fire.
A Black Hawk, call sign Super Six-One, was hit by an RPG round and crashed. A ground-based rescue operation began. During the rescue mission, a second Black Hawk, Super Six-Four, was shot down a few blocks away.
With resources stretched, D-Boys Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon volunteered to be inserted and provide security for the site, knowing the outcome was unlikely to be good.
The pair arrived and found the pilot still alive. Despite their heroic efforts, the site was overrun, and they were killed. As the Night Stalkers leave the area due to fuel and ammunition shortages, they assured their brothers that they will return, and used their loudspeakers to repeat the motto, “Night Stalkers Don’t Quit.”
Of the 18 soldiers killed in the operation, five of them were from the 160th. Delta operators Shughart and Gordon were awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously, the first MOH recipients since the Vietnam War.
Operation Neptune Spear — The Hunt for Bin Laden: In May 2011, the 160th took part in a raid on the compound of Usama bin Laden. The Night Stalkers used a pair of specially modified stealth Black Hawk helicopters to insert Navy Seals on the target.
Upon insertion, the tail rotor on one of the Black Hawks struck a compound wall and crashed. The SOAR crew was able to extract themselves from the wreckage and provide cover for the SEAL team. All personnel were able to exfiltrate in the second Black Hawk, making the mission a success despite the loss of the Black Hawk.
While not confirmed, it is rumored that the stealth model Black Hawk is challenging to fly due to the added technology, as helicopters are not stealthy to begin with.
Legacy of the Night Stalkers
From Grenada to the present, Night Stalkers have been involved in countless operations. Over the years, their constant push to improve has led to advancements in technology, enabling them to perform their mission more safely and efficiently. This technology carries over to regular units of all military branches and has undoubtedly saved many lives.
The Night Stalker Memorial Wall, located at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, lists the names of 94 Night Stalkers who have “Borne the Battle.” It serves as a poignant reminder of the high cost paid by these soldiers and their families in service to their country.
Categories
The Second D-Day No One Talks About
A gritty, first person friendly walk through Operation Just Cause in December 1989, from the Rangers’ airfield seizures to the infamous latrine fight and the fall of Manuel Noriega.
Setting the Stage for Operation Just Cause
All proper soldiers want to come home with a good story. You’d like to be able to sit down someday with your grandkids and tell them how you rescued the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders from the clutches of some evil despot. Tragically, the real world seldom works out quite like that. More often than not, you find yourself fighting across a chicken coop or securing some poor schmuck’s pig farm. And then there were these guys…
Table of contents
- Setting the Stage for Operation Just Cause
- Trouble in Paradise: Noriega and Panama 1989
- The Invasion: Rangers, Airfields, and Stealth Debut
- Things Get Real: The Omar Torrijos Latrine Fight
- Aftermath: D Day Success and Noriega on the Run
- From President to Prisoner
- Pineapple Face Finds Jesus
- Related Reads from GunsAmerica Digest
Trouble in Paradise: Noriega and Panama 1989
It was December of 1989, and Manuel Noriega had just gotten on George Herbert Walker Bush’s last nerve. Noriega’s people called him Pineapple Face behind his back. He was forever smitten with severe facial scars from some sort of childhood pox. Perhaps that’s what made him grow up to be such a turd.
As is so often the case, Manuel Noriega started out as one of the Good Guys. He always was a scumbag, but at least he was our scumbag. Over time, old Pineapple Face began dabbling in drug trafficking. With the resources of a nation state at his disposal, Noriega began to more resemble a warlord than a respectable chief executive.
After he was indicted by an American court on drug charges, Noriega nullified the results of the election that he lost to the opposition leader, Guillermo Endara, so he could remain in power indefinitely. There was and is a substantial American military presence in Panama. Over time, Noriega’s thugs grew more and more bold in their harassment of US troops. Noriega began getting chummy with the Soviets. Relations between Noriega and the Americans grew quite chilly.
Then one evening, four American officers were stopped by PDF (Panamanian Defense Force) troops whilst heading into Panama City to eat dinner. The PDF thugs fired on the unarmed Americans, killing Marine First Lieutenant Robert Paz. They also arrested a Navy SEAL officer and his wife, beating them both badly. Bush the First had had enough. At 0100 on 20 December 1989, Uncle Sam broke out his big stick. They christened the mission to depose Noriega and restore freedom to Panama Operation Just Cause.
The Invasion: Rangers, Airfields, and Stealth Debut
We hit the nation of Panama with more than 27,000 troops. The XVIII Airborne Corps led the way with the 82d Airborne. Lots of other units got in on the party as well, including the 7th Special Forces Group, the 7th Infantry Division (Light), and scads of support and specialized outfits, as well as a few Marines. The 75th Ranger Regiment was tasked to seize the Rio Hato and Omar Torrijos Airfields. Airfield seizure is one of the Rangers’ particular specialities. Nobody on the planet does that better.
The Rio Hato attack was initiated by a pair of F-117A stealth fighters dropping 2,000-pound precision-guided bombs as a diversion. This was the first combat use of a stealth fighter in military history. Soon thereafter, the Rangers jumped at the insanely low altitude of 490 feet. Despite the low level of the drop, 11 of the 13 transport aircraft were still damaged by 23mm antiaircraft fire.
As the Rangers were fanning out to take the Rio Hato airfield, two Panamanian military trucks loaded with PDF troops came screaming down the runway. The Panamanians raked the assembled Rangers with .50 caliber machine gun fire. In response, one Ranger platoon sergeant pithed one of the trucks with an M72 LAW rocket. Amazingly, another NCO engaged the second truck with his M1911A1 .45ACP pistol, serendipitously struck the fuel tank, and caused the vehicle to explode. Feel free to insert your favorite anecdote about the near supernatural stopping power of the 1911 pistol here.
Meanwhile, at nearby Omar Torrijos Airport, the Rangers kicked off the party with fire support from an AC-130U Spectre gunship as well as AH-6 Little Bird attack helicopters. These aerial assets neutralized three .50 caliber machine gun positions as well as a quad barreled 14.5mm ZPU-4 antiaircraft gun. That’s when the Rangers got down to business.
Things Get Real: The Omar Torrijos Latrine Fight
CQB (Close Quarters Battle) in a confined space looks cool in the movies. In real life, however, it is mostly just pain, blood, chaos, and terror. The defenders have a natural advantage, and the only way to seize an objective is to put friendly meat on the ground and take it. Captain Al Dochnal, commander of C Company, 3 Bn, 75th Ranger Regiment, led his young studs into the main terminal building at Omar Torrijos International Airport, scrapping for a fight.
Dochnal’s Rangers advanced into the terminal building by platoons. Once they forced an entry, the dozen PDF troops tasked with defending the facility inexplicably retreated into the men’s room. This turned out to be a pretty sound idea, at least in the near term. The thick granite stall walls offered decent cover.
SGT David Reeves deployed an M67 frag grenade into the john and rushed in as soon as the little bomb went off. One of the PDF shooters, protected from the blast by the aforementioned granite dividers, shot Reeves three times in the chest and once in the head. Two more Rangers then charged into the latrine. PFC William Kelly caught a round to his Kevlar helmet but was unhurt. By now, these young Rangers were pretty energized.
SPC Michael Eubanks and PFC Kelly successfully extricated SGT Reeves and dragged him to safety. Realizing that the confines of the terminal bathroom did not much lend themselves to small arms, Kelly and Eubanks filled their BDU pockets with frag grenades and headed into the latrine yet again.
This was one seriously big restroom. There were ten urinals and ten individual stalls. Kelly and Eubanks began rolling grenades underneath the walls of the stalls, blowing the defenders literally to pieces. Think Saving Private Ryan meets Superbad.
Panamanian body parts flew wildly about the latrine. All of the mirrors were shattered. Some of the PDF troops inexplicably still had some fight left in them, so Eubanks and Kelly went to town with their handguns.
At this point, the two opposing sides were close enough to yell at each other. The Panamanians suggested that the Rangers engage in some inappropriate sexual behaviors with their mothers, while the Rangers made a credible argument that Manuel Noriega was a pedophile. By now, SPC Eubanks had retrieved his M203 grenade launcher. When one of the PDF soldiers leaned out of a stall to curse at him, Eubanks shot him in the mouth with a 40mm grenade. That left only three combat effective Panamanians.
As SPC Eubanks carefully advanced through all the dust and smoke, a PDF soldier dove out of a stall and threw him into the urinals. His buddy, PFC Kelly, then ran up and shot the PDF pugilist three times in the head.
By now, the Ranger reinforcements had arrived in strength. Rangers poured into what was left of the airport washroom and dispatched the last two remaining PDF defenders without difficulty. From start to finish, it had taken five minutes to clear the twelve Panamanian soldiers out of the latrine.
By now, the objective was secure, but PFC Kelly and SPC Eubanks were in a bit of a state. These two young Rangers had been liberally covered in blood, brains, and gore during their close quarters fight to secure the Omar Torrijos Airfield men’s room. It was another three days before they got the opportunity to change clothes. I suspect they got to eat by themselves quite a bit during that time.
Aftermath: D Day Success and Noriega on the Run
45 minutes after the Rangers hit Omar Torrijos Airfield, the 82D Airborne began their drop. With the runway, terminal, and tower firmly in American hands, USAF C-141 cargo planes began cycling through with troops, ammunition, and supplies. Things unfolded quickly from there.
Operation Just Cause was defined by 27 separate initial tactical objectives. US forces accomplished all 27 on D Day, 20 December. Manuel Noriega subsequently went into hiding, eventually taking refuge in the Papal Nunciatura four days later. Think of this as akin to a diplomatic embassy for the Roman Catholic church. American combat troops, as well as Delta Force operators, surrounded the facility to prevent Noriega’s escape. They flew helicopters over the compound at low level at all hours and blasted Van Halen through hastily erected loudspeakers. Ten days later, Noriega surrendered to US forces.
From President to Prisoner
At the time of his capture, Noriega was said to be wearing some garish red silk underwear. These were supposedly his lucky underpants, intended to protect him from all harm. It seems they were defective. In short order, Noriega found himself in a Miami courtroom answering drug trafficking charges.
The American wheels of justice turn slowly, and the ambiguity of his status as a war criminal, a POW, an acknowledged head of state, or a garden variety drug running thug muddied the waters considerably. Eventually, the lawyers got all that sorted, and Noriega was remanded to federal prison. His status as a POW got him his own cell, his own television, and a decent set of exercise equipment.
Pineapple Face Finds Jesus
Noriega was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Once the dust settled, that 40 years condensed down to about 17. During that time, the deposed despot developed a friendship with a pair of evangelical pastors Clift Brannon and Rudy Hernandez. Noriega subsequently converted to Christianity and was baptized. I sincerely hope it took. He completed his American sentence in 2007 and was sent to France to start the process all over again.
France got a shot at him because of some money laundering thing, and Noriega was sentenced to a further seven years in jail. In 2011, the French authorities put Noriega on a plane for his home country of Panama. While in power, Manuel Noriega had done quite a lot of very bad stuff. He was subsequently sentenced to three concurrent 20 year prison sentences by the Panamanian courts.
In 2017, while still incarcerated, Noriega underwent surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. The former despot suffered a brain bleed during the procedure and died on May 29, 2017. He was 83. His body was released to his family for burial. Manuel Noriega’s dictatorship died along with him. Let’s hope he’s with Jesus today.