AS THE great-grandson of a couple who fled Germany before the First World War, I was always proud of the country of my birth that took them in.

The male Cushen children all joined the British Army in the First World War, although my grandfather, the youngest, signed up in 1918 and never saw war service.

The youngest two siblings were taken in by a wonderful London couple after their parents died and after a few years adopted their name, which is why my surname is not Cushen.

My father served in the Second World War in the Royal Navy, as did another German refugee, a Mr Miliband, Everything done in those days would have made us all proud to be British, but unfortunately of late, due to the overwhelming EU immigration to which we have been condemned, we now send genuine refugees back to countries such as Iran and Zimbabwe and my pride in Great Britain has been sadly dented.

So you can imagine how pleased I was to hear UKIP leader Nigel Farage saying that we should be accepting refugees from Syria.

It would seem that under a UKIP government my pride in my country of birth will be restored.

Roll on 2015, I can’t wait.

ALAN KEBBELL, Southampton.