Heroes

This picture deserves some explanation.

On the left, Elena - my 11 year old niece.

In the middle, Jim - rear tail gunner in a Lancaster bomber during World War 2. His aircraft was shot down over Germany, and he bailed out of it while it was on fire, landed up in Germany, and then spent the rest of the war in a Prisoner of War camp. You could not make this stuff up.

On the right, Bob - wireless operator flying B25 Mitchells over Italy, involved in numerous ground attacks as the allies worked their way through Europe.

These chaps have befriended my niece from a meeting at Duxford, and today we got the chance to have a reunion - and it was fantastic. The two chaps were absolutely delighted to see their adopted grand-daughter again and we all had a lovely time - very very moving.

Let me expand on this. These old boys have stories which are just utterly mind blowing - imagine if you can being 19 years old and having to get yourself out of your gun turret because your aircraft is burning up after having been hit by a German Night Fighter. Once you're out, you've got to figure out what you're going to do when you land in enemy territory - and then when you're captured, you have to deal with the abuse of the enemy.

This is the stuff that these guys experienced and dealt with. There are fewer and fewer of them around, and their stories set your hair on end.

My niece was fascinated to hear these stories and spent hours with these two gentleman chatting about their experiences. As a result, they have become pen pals, and the two ex-forces guys send her photos from their time in the war and little trinkets and even badges and medals from their time in the forces.

In return, my niece has put talks on at her school about the experiences of the bomber crews during the war, and has come with me to several air displays. She is constantly asking about the war, and shows an interest way beyond many adults! She insists that we must never forget their great sacrifice - amazing!

It's a relationship that has worked both ways - my niece has learned so much from these old boys, and she's brought them a ray of youthful joy in their twilight years which was totally unexpected. A very delightful and moving story!

A sad addition. We met at Staverton under the control of Project Propellor, a charity that reunitesWW2 aircrew every year.

I met a guy there who was a wireless operator in Halifax bombers. He was shot down by a JU88 night fighter and bailed out somewhere over Romania. He ended up on the infamous 900 mile Death March back to Germany. He said it was so tough three of the guards committed suicide.

So I said to him that I wanted him to know that there were may of us who were into flying who were eternally grateful for the bravery that he and his comrades had shown, and that we were determined to never forget them.

He said a very sad thing.

He said "Son, you're the first young person who's ever said thank you. Most people aren't interested at all. Thank you. It means a lot."

One sometimes wonders if we were worthy of their sacrifice.