War against hidden enemy 'unwinnable'

A war against an enemy who is not in uniform, who does not follow the rules of battle and who may simply be a stranger on the street is a war that cannot be won, says Palestine war veteran John Bayley.

Whenever he hears news of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr Bayley, of Picton, tunes out because his memories of seven years of battle in the British Army first in World War II, including the Battle of Arnhem, then in Palestine flood back.

By 1947 Palestine was a trouble spot, requiring about 100,000 British troops. It was split into separate Arab and Jewish states. In 1948, the state of Israel was established.

Mr Bayley said the enemy in Palestine was not always distinguishable from a member of the public, a similar situation to what soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan face now.

"It's a war that can't be won."

Mr Bayley began his career with the armed forces at age 17, when his home in Epping, England, was bombed and he had nowhere else to go. A gunner who eventually became a sergeant, Mr Bayley served in North Africa, Europe, Norway and Palestine.

He remembers crashlanding his glider off the coast of Sicily and being rescued by the navy.

In Italy, Mr Bayley was caught up in a blast when a mortar bomb fell on an ammunition truck he was near. He awoke in hospital to a nurse asking if he wanted a cigarette. The blast caused Mr Bayley to shake, a lasting effect to this day.

At the Battle of Arnhem, from September 17 to September 25 1944, Mr Bayley was one of the 690 glider pilots. He remembers the battle in flashes. The recent Classic Fighters air show in Blenheim brought back some unwelcome memories.

He said the staged battles were well done, but "there was too much emphasis on the Germans".

"There were too many of them. I had a nightmare that night."

Although Anzac Day also brings back bad memories, Mr Bayley said it was an important occasion to mark. No longer able to march, his compatriots made sure a chair was there for him at Saturday's Picton dawn parade, then at the Renwick and Blenheim parades.