Shame of yobs who attack war hero

FERAL yobs as young as TEN have left a frail war hero living in fear through a nightly campaign of terror - because he dared to tick them off for vandalism.

Brave Mark MacTavish - who shot at Japanese bombers during World War Two - has had his home pelted with bricks, eggs - and even a potato with "NAZI b******" scrawled on it.

And last night the former Merchant Navy gunner, proudly wearing his poppy in memory of lost colleagues, hit out: "I have the pride of knowing I've fought for my country, alongside good friends.

"But when I think about the way I'm being targeted now by these kids outside my house, it makes me angry."

The nightly bombardment of the 82-year-old's home started six months ago when he challenged a group of kids about damaging a nearby fence.

The heartless youths returned later that night to run riot in his garden and throw missiles at his windows.

Astonishingly, when cops arrived they gave Mark a ROW for confronting the teeny terrors in the first place.

The brave pensioner served as a First Mate and helped to protect Merchant Navy vessels in the treacherous waters of the Far East and Mediterranean in wartime.

But now he has been forced to sit in the dark and face his TV set away from the window - so the thugs don't know he is in.

Mark, of Balerno, Edinburgh, said: "It's not nice to have these youngsters running wild like this.

"Their parents must know what they've been up to because I've had a run-in with one of their dads.

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"They run around my garden shouting various insults at me and flashing their bottoms. Most nights I just sit in the dark and hope they'll get bored and go away."

The OAP has severe vision problems and has been told he may go BLIND next year.

During the war he served on oil tankers and manned a gun to fend off attacks by the Japanese air force - knowing a single hit by a bomb could blow up his ship.

Yet the hero has been powerless to stop the tirade of abuse and attacks he's had to endure from local hooligans.

He explained: "It all started when they broke a fence by kicking a ball against it.

"I went out with a hammer and nails to fix it. But when I saw the kids I complained to them about what they'd done.

"One of them piped up, 'I don't care, it's not me who will be paying for it'.

"I was sickened by their complete lack of remorse. One of the boys' dads was ready to confront me for telling off his son - until I told him what had happened.

"He can't have been too hard on his lad because the same gang of boys were back outside my house that same night, throwing eggs and rotten potatoes.

"It makes me so angry that they think they can get away with this behaviour.

"When the police came to my door, they actually gave ME a telling-off for trying to make a stand against them.

"You hear about all these terrible things that happen when people get involved in situations like this.

"I would go out there and tackle them myself but that would be foolish.

"But they deserve a good slap - and maybe even six months ago, I would have done just that."

Lothian and Borders Police said last night that extra patrols had been put on in Mark's area.

A spokesman said: "We are taking these offences very seriously and adopting a variety of tactics to catch those responsible.

"As well as extra patrols in the area, we will be carrying out letter drops and also contacting the local school."

But Mark is still being subjected to the cowardly nightly onslaught. He said: "Sitting in the dark, I can hear all sorts of THUMPING and SHOUTING going on, against my window until 11pm.

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"My eyesight is failing, so it's hard to see what they look like. I've been told I will most likely be blind by Easter, so then I won't be able to see what they do at all.

"And now Guy Fawkes Night is just around the corner, so I'm really worried" The young cowards who gather in the dark to pelt the pensioner's window are targeting a man who put his life on the line to help protect this country's freedom.

Mark was only 16 when he joined the Royal Gunnery as an apprentice in Govan shipyards in 1944 and was quickly taught to do signalling, maintenance and steering.

With convoys facing the daily threat of attack from enemy planes, ships and submarines, he learned how to defend his tanker from attacks. The aviation fuel and petrol he helped to transport round the world was vital to the war effort.

But that made such vessels a priority target for the enemy.

Mark explains: "We were carrying highly valuable materials, so we needed to make sure we knew how to defend ourselves and the ship.

"With all that fuel on board, we were ALWAYS scared of being attacked."

Mark spent six months in Italy, where Allied ships were a regular target for the German Luftwaffe planes. Then he went to the Far East, where he faced Japanese bombers and kamikaze planes.

He said: "It was tricky because you never knew when the attacks would happen.

"I fired that gun a number of times. It was just part our lives."

Mark added: "I'm not trying to say that what I did for my country should make me immune from hooligans tormenting me.

"But in my day, you'd NEVER speak to someone the way they speak to me."

News of Mark's ordeal came as an RAF veteran told how he foiled a raid on a jewellery store by tackling one of the robbers.

William Grove, 84, used combat moves he learned during the war to unmask the thug.

The two would-be thieves ran off after he stepped in at a shop in Richmond, London.

The hero OAP said: "Once you've been trained by the RAF you never forget it - it's like riding a bicycle."

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