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81when, without any warning, the doors crashed open. The relief guard goose8stepped in and with much stamping of feet the changing of the guard ritual was enacted. The old guard stomped out and the doors slammed shut. I was somewhat nonplussed by this unexpected intrusion but no one else seemed to be in the slightest bit perturbed, regarding it as quite normal behaviour! An interesting thing that I learned was that ex8RAF veterans had been granted pensions in 1990891. Some of them were present on this occasion, some wearing old RAF uniforms, some in Czech Air Force uniform. Also present were veterans who had flown with the Soviet Air Force during the war; these men had had pensions throughout the post8war era. Furthermore, since the ex8RAF men had been regarded as being politically unreliable, they had been denied party membership, which was a considerable handicap under a communist regime, and they were discriminated against in that they were permitted to hold only low8grade or menial jobs %u2013 as storekeepers, janitors and the like. There was, therefore, an understandable degree of bitterness between the two factions %u2013 and this became increasingly evident as the evenings wore on during social gatherings. #,%u0006%u0009-%%u0006%u000e%u0013*/%u0006%u000c%u0016400%u0015/,%u0016%u0013/? Perhaps I could say a few words in my capacity as the Chairman of the 100 Gp Association. Among our number we have several East Europeans who did an excellent job during the war by exercising their linguistic skills while flying as special operators. Apart from taking the risks common to all aircrew, they faced an additional hazard in that, if they were unfortunate enough to be shot down, they tended to be afforded less hospitality than their British colleagues. %u0008%(/<%u0006%u0004/,4)? I served during the Battle of Britain and I recall that the public were aware of the British air aces, but we knew nothing of the Poles and Czechs. Was this because the media could neither spell nor pronounce their names? %u0018%u00177%u0015%u0016%u0016? No. It was policy. The press had strict instructions not to release the names of any of the airmen in exile for fear that their families would be subject to retribution. You may have noticed that, in order to hide his identity, the posed photograph that I displayed, of a Polish pilot in the cockpit of a Spitfire, showed him wearing an