Fuque the French...
Explosive messages for every war
From Glen Owen and Michael Evans
Our repoters with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing in the Gulf
timesonline.co.uk
THE message scrawled on the side of an American bunker-busting bomb being wheeled out into the desert was blunt: “Fuque the French” had been scrawled on the side by a member of the US Air Force.
Painting war graffiti and taunts on bombs and shells is one of the great traditions of warfare. But normally it is the enemy that is the target for the abuse, not a Nato ally. However, senior American officers at this munitions plant in the desert — known colloquially as “Ammo country” — said the French gibe “crossed the line” of acceptability.
“I don’t think that is necessary,” said Chief Edwards, the plant’s second in command. “France is still an ally.”
But when the enemy is the target anything goes. In the First World War, the heaviest calibre artillery shells were often chalked with messages such as: “Present for the Kaiser”. It was not only the troops who chalked on the messages. Many bombs coming off the production lines at home were inscribed before going to war zones.
Keith Miller, of the National Army Museum, said it was a tradition in every war. “The names have changed but the terms of abuse have remained as primitive as ever. It’s not a sophisticated art form.”
In the Second World War it was common to see “Up yours, Adolf”. In the 1991 Gulf War, that was changed to “Up yours, Saddam”.
In Vietnam, the Americans liked to use the slogan “Kilroy is here” — meaning simply that Kilroy, an archetypal American soldier, was everywhere, sorting out the world.
The missiles that rained down on Taleban and al-Qaeda targets last year bore messages remembering the September 11 attacks. “I Love New York,” “Kill, kill, kill. This one’s for New York,” or, remembering the firefighters who died, simply: “FDNY”. |
