Norway’s trauma will last for years
Tuesday 26th July 2011, 12:34AM BST.
Some years ago I flew to Oslo with a party of war veterans to visit a splendid home for old soldiers in northern Norway, writes Peter Rhodes.
We were met at the airport by a reception committee.
A party of Norwegian girls in national dress presented bouquets to the English wives.
We were escorted to the VIP Blue Room where a television crew was waiting.
And then Norway’s minister of defence arrived and delivered a formal welcome.
We were honoured but also astonished. It was the sort of trip which, in the UK, would have merited a small picture in the local newspaper.
But this was Norway, population five million, where everyone seems to know everyone else and small news is big news.
Only when you understand the intimacy of Norway and the family feeling among Norwegians can you begin to comprehend the impact of losing more than 90 young citizens.
It is the equivalent of a slaughter of more than 1,000 children in Britain, or 60 Dunblane massacres in a single day. The trauma will endure for years.
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