Donald Trump never apologises. But last night the US president backed down in the face of fury from veterans and families of Britain’s war dead at his false claim that they had “stayed off the frontlines”.
Families who spoke to The Observer were unimpressed, saying it did “not take away the pain” he had caused.
In an about-turn, Trump said British soldiers were “among the greatest of all warriors” and the bond between the soldiers of the UK and US was “too strong to ever be broken”.
On Thursday, Trump had enraged veterans in the UK, Denmark and the other 48 nations that supported American forces in Afghanistan by saying that the US had “never needed” its Nato allies and that those who were there “stayed a little back, a little off the frontlines”.
The 79-year-old president – who British generals said was unqualified to speak because he had “dodged the draft” to avoid serving in Vietnam – caused immense hurt to the families of 457 personnel who died in Britain’s 20-year campaign alongside the US in Afghanistan.
Trump’s insults have caused offence before. He called US soldiers buried in Normandy “losers” at a remembrance ceremony.
“I think this time, it’s different,” said Angela Nicholls, who was among the first wave of British troops deployed to Afghanistan after al-Qaida’s attack on the twin towers on September 11 2001.
Her husband, L/Cpl Ross Nicholls, was killed in action in Helmand province during his second tour, when their daughter was just 12 weeks old.
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“For the leader of a country that disrespects any armed forces, it’s not something they should be doing. If the prime minister had said something like that about another nation, we would all be disowning our PM. It’s one of the most offensive things he could say.”
Trump’s words “help a little bit, because he’s not known for apologising”, she added. “But it’s not going to take away the pain of what he’s said. It’s brought everything back.”
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Keir Starmer, who had described the president’s comments as “insulting and frankly appalling” and demanded an apology, spoke to Trump on Saturday afternoon.
Downing Street said the call was “positive”, and “the prime minister raised the brave and heroic British and American soldiers who fought side by side in Afghanistan” and the sacrifice of those that died.
The two leaders also discussed Ukraine and security in the Arctic, as well as the importance of the UK-US relationship “which continues to stand the test of time”, the spokesperson added.
After the phone call, Trump did not apologise. But he did post on social media that “the GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America! “In Afghanistan, 457 died, many were badly injured, and they were among the greatest of all warriors. It’s a bond too strong to ever be broken. The U.K. Military, with tremendous Heart and Soul, is second to none (except for the USA!). We love you all, and always will!”
Nikki Scott, who founded Scotty’s Little Soldiers to help children of service families after her husband Cpl Lee Scott was killed by an improvised explosive device, said Trump’s original insult had been “more personal this time”, adding: “For me, any time anyone says anything like this it brings back a lot of emotions. I have to speak to the children again.”
Of Trump’s non-apology, she said: “It’s been said now.” Scott said she often had to deal with thoughtless remarks in the media, or in schools, or at remembrance ceremonies. “It makes me feel even more fuelled to do good for the British forces community,” she said. “It’s what we do at Scotty’s and we’re going to be supporting everyone who has been affected by this.”
Reg Keys’s son, L/Cpl Tom Keys, was killed along with five other British soldiers in an ambush in the south-east of Iraq in July 2003.
“I’m still not over it now, all these years later – I never will be. Those six lovely young men didn’t need to lose their lives that day. And then Trump says something like that.
“‘Send your boy over on the frontline. Let’s see how long he lasts’ – that’s what I’d like to say to Trump. ‘Send him to help the Ukrainians’,” Keys, 73, said on Saturday.
He added that hundreds of families had paid the price for “dancing to America’s tune”, adding: “Now he [Trump] has the gall to say that we weren’t committed on the frontline. It’s an abhorrent statement to make.
“Like most bereaved families who’ve lost sons in Iraq and Afghanistan, we’re obviously furious – I’m outraged that he can make such flippant comments. He doesn’t realise the commitment and the endeavour of these young men and women.”
Keys challenged Tony Blair in 2004 for his seat in Sedgefield, Co Durham, and was played by Tim Roth in a subsequent BBC feature film, Reg. He added that Blair taking part in Trump’s “board of peace” for Gaza was an added injury.“I see Blair's face parading on the TV now, I don't know how the man isn’t rotting in prison in chains.”
Angela Nicholls was so furious at Trump’s attack on British war dead that she got up at 2am to write a letter to the US president. She told him he had been “insulting, reckless and deeply offensive to every family who sacrificed someone they loved”.
Her husband was killed in action in Musa Qala, which she said was “one of the most dangerous Taliban-controlled areas”.
“He was not ‘behind the frontline’. He was the frontline. He and his colleagues were ambushed, blown up, burned, shot at and fought for their lives and each other.” She said she had raised her children alone. “They visit a grave instead of hugging him. They wear his medals because he cannot.” Trump had been “cruel”, “thoughtless” and “enraging”, she said “You have reopened wounds that never fully heal. You have shown a staggering lack of respect for the people who fought and died in a war your country asked its allies to join.
“I am furious. I am hurt. And I am appalled that someone in your position would speak with such disregard for the truth and for the lives of those who served.”
On Saturday,Gen Sir Nick Carter, the former head of the British armed forces, spoke of his “disgust and disappointment” at Trump’s words.
“He’s notable, I think, in being exceptionally unqualified to comment on war, given that he dodged the draft five times,” Carter told the BBC. “And it’s not just British and European troops he has contempt for – he has no respect for US veterans either.”
Carter said Trump had claimed that the late Republican presidential nominee and Vietnam veteran John McCain was “not a war hero… because he was captured”.
Photograph by ANL/Shutterstock