Brief court martial
Sir: Someone is having his leg pulled (Let- ter from Charles Fitzgerald, 21 June). If a court martial in this unspecified part of the world was indeed convened by this anony- mous Air Officer Commanding, then he must have assembled officers to sit on it, he must have rounded up a prosecuting offi- cer, a defending officer and, since the charge was so serious, a representative of the Judge Advocate's Department. After what could only have been very brief pro- ceedings, the convening officer must then have studied the findings and confirmed both the findings and the sentence. There- after, the case would have been examined by the personnel staff of the relevant HQ, and reviewed personally by the AOC in C. This very senior officer would also have had to confirm the findings and the sentence, and then to have passed his decision back down the chain of command. All this in the space of one day, and still leaving time to find a firing squad! Come off it, Mr Fitzger- ald.
Much more seriously, the letter may well raise quite unnecessary doubts in the minds of the next-of-kin of those very many gal- lant airmen who were posted 'missing in action'. Mr Fitzgerald owes them an apolo- gy, and he should try in future to recognise a tall tale when he hears one.
Michael Armitage
Cairn Court, Bath
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