Richard Peirse

Richard Peirse (30 September 1892 – 5 August 1970) was a British squadron commander for bomber planes in World War II.

Quotes

• I mention this because, for a long time, the Government for excellent reasons has preferred the world to think that we still held some scruples and attacked only what the humanitarians are pleased to call Military Targets. . . . I can assure you, Gentlemen, that we tolerate no scruples.
  • November 1941, according to page 223 of "The Bombing War: Europe, 1939-1945", a 2013 book by Richard Overy
    • 2014 Washington Post article refers to him as "a ranking British officer"
    • History Channel, between 5 November 2018 and 21 February 2019, referred to him as "one bigwig at Bomber Command" when quoting this.
    • since at least 19 October 2017 this quote has been misattributed to Charles Portal the "Chief of Air Staff", due to subsequent mention of Peirse's title "Chief of Bomber Command" mentioned in a 2015 Telegraph article following a paragraph naming Portal without mentioning the subsequent person was Peirse, allowing the assumption that it was continued discussion of Portal.