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from Manchester
Metro News Thursday 6 April 2000
Vandals wreck a war
hero's military grave
by Claire Hindley
VANDALS have
desecrated the grave of a war hero. The thugs have also trashed
surrounding burial plots at Philips Park Cemetery in Bradford, east
Manchester, tipping over tombstones and tearing up plants.
Archaeologist Jeffrey Millar discovered the devastation while inspecting
the site for inclusion in a local
heritage trail. At the centre of the damage was the grave of Second
Lieutenant Leonard Fleet, the first Jewish airman from Manchester to be
killed in the First World War.
His ornate marble memorial stone
had been smashed into three pieces, which were left scattered in the grass.
Elsewhere, also in the Jewish
section of the cemetery, other gravestones had been pushed over and flowers
ripped from their pots.
Mr Millar said: "It
is an insult to all the men and women who gave their lives for future
generations.
"I can’t stop thinking
about the bravery of the second lieutenant, who was only 22 when he died, in
comparison to the cowardice of the thugs who destroyed his grave. I don’t
know if it was anti-semitic gesture but it is deeply offensive to
everybody."
Mr Millar said he would inform
the War Graves Commission about the
vandalism in the hope the grave will be repaired.
Sonny Fromson, chairman
of the Synagogue Commission for Funerals and Supervision, said: "It is
particularly bad that it was the grave of an airman killed in the war. This
should not have happened after all he did for the country."
A spokesman for
Manchester City Council, which is responsible for the maintenance of
cemeteries, said: "The council has pledged to tackle the problems
caused by vandals in cemeteries."
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