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Did Tony Foulds lie about his Mi Amigo experiences? A balanced look at the allegations


deejayone

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There's been a bit of an uproar about allegations Tony Foulds had lied about his Mi Amigo experiences... this video takes a balanced and sensitive look at the topic:

 

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I do know that he used the same barber for years and never ever mentioned anything about Mi Amigo while getting his hair cut and why hasn't any other person who was in Endcliffe Park on that terrible day ever come forward?

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47 minutes ago, tozzin said:

I do know that he used the same barber for years and never ever mentioned anything about Mi Amigo while getting his hair cut and why hasn't any other person who was in Endcliffe Park on that terrible day ever come forward?

There have been plenty of eye witness accounts from the day, many catalogued in the history books. All seem to conflict with Tony's story though, apparently. Most say the plane actually circled the city for more than an hour and the National Fire Service were following it, knowing it was in trouble. At some point it apparently just dropped out of the sky, spiralling into the trees in Endcliffe Park, rather than a controlled descent and belly landing.

Here's a snippet of one eye witness account that was published in The Star in the 2000s:

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modern 'journalism' at its finest. Hide behind youtube and stir some s***.

 

It brought the city together, made us very proud to be sheffielders and remembered the lads who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

 

who plants the bedding plants and sweeps up from time to time is of little or no consequence.

 

I dont see what youre trying to achieve by posting it to be honest.

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56 minutes ago, Zeb said:

modern 'journalism' at its finest. Hide behind youtube and stir some s***.

 

It brought the city together, made us very proud to be sheffielders and remembered the lads who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

 

who plants the bedding plants and sweeps up from time to time is of little or no consequence.

 

I dont see what youre trying to achieve by posting it to be honest.

You hit just about the same notes that the video does, to be fair.

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On ‎04‎/‎04‎/‎2019 at 16:36, Zeb said:

modern 'journalism' at its finest. Hide behind youtube and stir some s***.

 

It brought the city together, made us very proud to be sheffielders and remembered the lads who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

 

who plants the bedding plants and sweeps up from time to time is of little or no consequence.

 

I dont see what youre trying to achieve by posting it to be honest.

I agree, it's brought the story forward to a generation who didn't know anything about it and it's also reconnected us to some of

our American friends who are relatives of  the late pilots. Maybe the story is not correct detail by detail but what story of the past is?

 

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Quote

 Judge not your fellow man till you have walked in their shoes ,there  but for the grace of god go you or I

this is one of the problem with social media it lets cowards throw mud from the safety of their computer screens (or exercise their right to freedom of speech which ever way you view it) I cant see Dan walker taking this on with out checking it out first ,Remember Mr Foulds didn't seek any attention it found him, I was honoured to attend the fly past,

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No one is belittling the event, or the flypast - on the contrary, I think everyone is agreed that remembrance is important and that the occasion should absolutely have been marked. I attended the flypast myself and have often been to the memorial. The video doesn't attempt to belittle Tony either - personally I think it is quite fair and balanced. There's an updated version of the story with additional points and commentary here: https://sheff.info/2OZwZnn - again, it is written to be balanced and sensitive to the subject matter from all sides.

This is a Sheffield History forum though, and where details of history are questioned it is important to have that debate. Take all the subjectivity and emotion out of it, and focus on the objective historical evidence so we can all know and remember accurately what did happen that day... without historical accuracy then what history do we have?

David Harvey (a historian with published accounts of the event) is adamant that the plane purposefully avoiding children in the park is an urban legend that started in around the 1990s. I think it comes from a single report in the Sheffield Telegraph after the crash that states "Children in Endcliffe Park escaped injury when a flaying fortress crashed" - it was always intended to mean that the crash simply happened away from the field where the children were, not that the pilot purposefully avoided the children, but when it was republished on an anniversary people misread it to mean the latter.

Historians who have researched it for years are all a little bit bitter about the Tony Foulds situation, considering his story contradicts their research and, apparently, historical fact. Other eye-witnesses from the time are upset because it goes against their accounts of the crash that they've lived with for their lifetimes. Likewise the people who do look after the memorial are angry because they've done it for years and had no recognition whereas Tony comes along and takes all the credit from them. And others who arrange the annual memorials and other events around it all (who, incidentally, claim to have never seen or heard of Tony until last year) are annoyed because they feel Tony has taken the emphasis away from what they consistently do to honour the crash and servicemen.

It is all probably harmless in the end (and who's dad/grandad hasn't told some kind of fanciful stories about their past? If that is the case), but you can understand why some people are angry, and you can understand why the accounts are being questioned - especially on a forum dedicated to researching, debating and accounting historical events.

 

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Thanks for posting this, I've been aware myself of some of the 'differences' in Tony's memory of the event and of those who feel their noses have been put out of joint through all this. It's useful to have them brought together.

I'm not a supporter of an honour from the Queen either and I suspect there will be the expected outcry when he doesn't, but the reasons you catalogue will be the reasons the Palace, or whoever, decide not to include him I suspect.

I too enjoyed the fly past, who doesn't, and it was a great day for Sheffield. I'm concerned however that it had more to do with 'great' telly than anything else, along with BBC Breakfasts battle with ITVs alternative. There's no hiding the one-upmanship between Dan and Piers. A journalist bumps into an old man tending to a memorial with a great personal back story and bingo !!! No need to check it out. At some point people will start to get fed up with all this and the one to suffer will be Tony. It's what society likes to do for some reason - build someone up then knock them down? And where will the BBC be.

You say in your report that Tony hasn't benefitted from any of this - well in many ways he has, it's quite painful to see some organisations fall over backwards to be seen to support him on the back of the BBC publicity - free pleasure flight, Upgrades to 1st class, Stars etc.... And I now hear that he's telling everyone the memorial is 'HIS' ???? and that he's upsetting certain members of the military by planting yellow flowers around it - I know I didn't think that was a problem myself until it was pointed out it's a symbol of cowardice in such circles. And please don't start me on that flag pole... the entrance to Butlins springs to mind.

 

 

 

 

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When I was quite young, Mum and I were walking through the Park towards Hunters Bar. As we were walking past the area near the playing field, over the back near the trees there was 'something' going on. Mum then explained to me, that in WW2, an American plane was in trouble, and it was flying round trying to find somewhere to land. She said they saw the playing field in the park, but on coming down saw there were children there, the pilot pulled away to avoid them, crashing into the trees. The 'something' going on, was people visiting the site on the anniversary of the crash. The date Mum was telling me this was around 1960.

Note for thaught! There are things we witness as 'Children'  that at the time we relate no consequence to, though the memory is always there. Sometime later in our life, the 'realisation' of what we saw becomes apparent, by either an account of the same thing witnessed from an 'adults' perspective, or the result of a writing on the subject in question, either of these things happening, can waken up the significance of your memory.

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