Swinney pays tribute to hero uncle who won posthumous Victoria Cross in war
The First Minister said it was important to remember the sacrifices of the past while war rages on in parts of the world today.
John Swinney has paid tribute to his Royal Marine uncle on the 80th anniversary of his death in the Second World War.
Corporal Thomas Peck Hunter, of 43 Commando Royal Marines, was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for bravery after he was killed in action in Italy in 1945.
The First Minister gathered, with his father and cousin, in Leith, to lay a wreath in memory of the 21-year-old.
Corporal Hunter offered himself as a target to save his comrades, charging alone across 200 yards of open ground under fire towards a group of houses where German machine guns were positioned.
Six enemy gunners surrendered while others fled as his troop reached cover before Cpl Hunter was shot and killed, the Ministry of Defence said.
Speaking after the ceremony, the First Minister told the PA news agency the sacrifices of the past should not be forgotten.
He said: “I think it’s important on these landmark occasions, 80 years to the day since he died, that we commemorate the sacrifices made by so many people, one of them my uncle, to make sure that we can live in freedom today.”
Mr Swinney said he first found out about his uncle’s death after finding the Victoria Cross in his grandmother’s house.
“I grew up with this story,” he said. “I was stunned when I was a small child to discover the Victoria Cross in a frame in the wardrobe of my granny’s house in Stenhouse in Edinburgh, the house where she had been told that her son had been killed in the war.
“And I’ve lived with a story all of my life, understanding the sacrifice that was made by my uncle and also by millions of others in war.
“I think it’s so important that we remember and recall the sacrifices that have been made and learn the lessons from that sacrifice that we must all work for peace and for unity and cohesion within the world.”
The SNP leader said those lessons extended into the modern world, including Russia’s war against Ukraine, which has been ongoing since 2022.
He said: “We can look back in history and look at the suffering in the First World War and the Second World War.
“My grandfather served in the First World War and pleaded with his sons not to get involved in the Second World War but they felt they had a duty to do so to protect the freedoms that we now enjoy.
“But we have to learn those lessons, and the importance of diplomacy and negotiation and the avoidance of conflict is absolutely central.
“But equally, we’ve got to be prepared to stand up to tyranny, which is what’s going on in Ukraine today, and that’s why we should support Ukraine.”
The commanding officer of 43 Commando, Colonel Adam Whitmarsh, added: “The determination, courage and selfless commitment to his comrades displayed by Corporal Thomas Peck Hunter VC highlights the spirit and the values which are as relevant to today’s Commando Forces as they were in 1945.”
