Londoners Pride - 'Blitz Spirit'

[RonOnGuitar]

As I said, these good people have taken hits before and did not bow before those who would destroy them. What amazing courage and indomitable spirit they have.

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Londoners Take Pride in 'Blitz Spirit'



By JILL LAWLESS

The Associated Press

Thursday, July 7, 2005; 6:08 PM



LONDON -- The priority in the morning was getting in touch with loved ones _ it seemed everyone had a cell phone in hand. By evening, maps replaced phones as thousands of Londoners tried to navigate routes home made unfamiliar by police roadblocks and shuttered subway stations.



Amid the twisted metal and mangled bodies left by Thursday's devastating bomb attacks, Londoners took pride in their tradition of fortitude and quiet defiance.



"As Brits, we'll carry on _ it doesn't scare us at all," said 37-year-old tour guide Michael Cahill. "Look, loads of people are walking down the streets. It's Great Britain _ not called 'Great' for nothing."



The worst attack on London since World War II brought out a strength and esprit de corps that recalled Britain under the blitz of German bombers.



As Wednesday's jubilation at winning the 2012 Olympics gave way to the terrible shock of Thursday's attacks, Prime Minister Tony Blair made a televised appeal for unity and praised the "stoicism and resilience of the British people."



Both were in evidence across the city, as volunteers helped the walking wounded from blast sites, commuters loaned their phones so strangers could call home and thousands faced long queues for homeward-bound buses _ or even longer walks _ without complaint.



"People are getting on with it," said taxi driver Steve Green. "It's marvelous that they're showing their backbone."



Coordinated explosions ripped through three subway trains and a double-decker bus during the morning rush hour, killing at least 37 people and injuring about 700. Blair said the blasts were almost certainly timed to coincide with the G-8 summit of world leaders under way in Gleneagles, Scotland.



Londoners grew used to terrorism during years of Irish Republican Army violence. But Thursday's attacks were the deadliest in the city since World War II.



Many in the city demonstrated the resolute "Blitz spirit" that _ at least in the popular imagination _ prevailed through the worst days of German bombing.



"People are more friendly," said office worker Eric Procter as he began a long journey home. "Before, you'd walk this way and you wouldn't get any smiles. People are helping each other. They're stopping for directions and getting pointed in the right direction."



The streets were uncharacteristically calm around St. Paul's Cathedral, whose vast dome towering above clouds of black smoke became a symbol of British defiance of @#%$ bombers.



"I can't believe how quiet and calm the atmosphere is in the streets. People aren't panicking, they're just quietly walking," said Inga Gordon, visiting from Oslo, Norway. "It doesn't seem like they are in shock. They are just going about their business."



Some Muslim Londoners expressed fear they would be targeted in revenge.



"Everyone is subdued and people are wondering what has happened," said restaurant manager Karim Mohammed. "People are asking how will it affect us, are we going to be treated in a nice way after this?"



However, there were no reports of revenge attacks Thursday. And while the majority of Britons opposed their nation's participation in the U.S.-led war in Iraq, there were no immediate calls to pull out the troops.



Computer technician Matt Carter, 25, said he was struck by how the attacks had united Londoners.



"It's amazing how people have stuck together. I've seen total strangers hugging each other and people coming out into the street with free cups of tea," he said.



"We can't let the terrorists defeat us. We've got to show them they will never win."



Mayor Ken Livingstone condemned the attacks as "an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder" aimed at "ordinary working-class Londoners."



He said the bombers would never succeed.



"I know that you personally do not fear giving up your own life in order to take others _ that is why you are so dangerous," Livingstone said.



"But I know you fear that you may fail in your long-term objective to destroy our free society. Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail."

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Also from Associated Press:



Major Terrorist Attacks in England

A chronology of major terrorist attacks in England over the past three decades.



• March 8, 1973: Two IRA car bombs explode outside London's Old Bailey courthouse and government's agriculture department headquarters, killing one and wounding more than 150.



• Oct. 5, 1974: Two IRA bombs explode in pubs in London suburb of Guildford; five dead, more than 50 injured.



• Nov. 21, 1974: Two IRA bombs in Birmingham kill 19 and wound more than 180.



• July 20, 1982: Two IRA bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in London kill 11 British soldiers and wound more than 40, mostly civilians.



• Dec. 17, 1983: IRA car bomb explodes outside Harrod's department store, killing six and wounding about 100.



• Oct. 12, 1984: IRA targets conference of ruling Conservative Party, killing five and wounding 24, but narrowly missing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.



• Sept. 22, 1989: The IRA bombs the Royal Marines School of Music in Deal, killing 10 soldiers and wounding more than 30.



• Feb. 7, 1991: IRA fires three homemade mortar shells at No. 10 Downing Street, British prime minister's official residence in London. No injuries.



• April 10, 1992: Massive IRA truck bomb in London's financial district kills three and causes hundreds of millions of dollars of damage.



• March, 20, 1993: IRA bomb hidden in garbage can in shopping district of Warrington, northwest England, kills two boys aged 3 and 12.



• Feb. 9, 1996: IRA ends a 17-month cease-fire with a massive truck bomb in London's financial district, killing two.



• Feb. 18, 1996: An IRA bomber accidentally kills himself aboard a London double-decker bus, five injured.



• June 15, 1996: For first time, IRA targets a different English city — Manchester in the northwest — with a massive truck bomb, wrecking the central shopping area and wounding about 200.



• Sept. 20, 2000: IRA dissidents fire rocket-propelled grenaded at headquarters of MI5 security agency. No injuries.



• July 7, 2005: Four blasts rock the London subway system and a bus during the morning rush hour, killing at least 40 people, U.S. officials say. More than 360 people are wounded.