I would have like to have met this bloke
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Fraser,_15th_Lord_Lovat
The piper, Bill Milin, died last month.
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I did meet this guy:
www.victoriacross.org.uk/bbannand.htm
Although it was in his later years and his deafness made verbal communication difficult.
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Thirty years ago every workplace had it's contingent of ex forces. Not just men from the front but ladies who'd been in the Wrens or the Waaf as well.
Some had had horrendous experiences they preferred (and some times drank) to forget. But for most their war time activities were a frequent subject for recollection and discussion. One learned a lot!!
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Tue 7 Sep 10 at 09:41
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A friend of mine's mother was a WAAF at Bletchley Park operating one of the bombes. She refused to even acknowledge where she worked untill altzhiemers kicked in big time and it all came out.
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I always feel saddened reading obituaries that we only get to hear of these people when they are dead and it is too late to meet them.
I've sometimes mused that what is needed is a system of "10 years to go" not-quite obituaries. Then we could read about interesting people who are still alive and we could select some we might like to meet.
It would be very easy to arrange. Obituaries are all ready prepared years in advance, just in case, as revealed by the odd one that gets released prematurely by mistake.
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One of the best things that Jeremy Clarkson did on TV was a portrait of a VC. It turned out at the end of the programme that the person was JC's father-in-law but had never (ever) mentioned his VC or his war exploits during his lifetime. At the very end you could hear his son-in-law's exasperation of not being able to talk to him about it.
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One of the great misnomers about WW1 that returning soldiers were unhappy to talk about their war experiences and that they were in general proud of their victory- Discussed in a book called Forgotten Victory by Gary Sheffield...
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There's a great thread on the PPRUNE website
www.pprune.org/military-aircrew/329990-gaining-r-f-pilots-brevet-ww11.html
Look out for the posts by 'Regle'. He describes the start of his career flying Mosquitos in WW2. Then a tour in heavy bombers followed by a lifetime in civil aviation. He was the pilot of a Sabena flight that was hijacked by PLO terrorists and subsequebntly rescued by Israeli commandos.
Obituary here
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/air-force-obituaries/7931232/Reginald-Levy.html
I'd have loved to have sat down with him for a few hours.
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I would have liked to have met Leonard Cheshire. He was an amazing and heroic wartime pilot; he won a Victoria Cross, not for an isolated one-off act of bravery, but for over 2 years of being a Pathfinder and Master Bomber. He then flew as an observer on a US nuclear bombing raid on Nagasaki and what he saw changed his life. He became very anti-war and went on to found the Cheshire Homes, assisted and supported by his wife, Lady Sue Ryder. He himself was made a Baron and appointed to the Order of Merit. He and Lady Ryder were very unusual in the that each been given a peerage for their own work rather than Lady Ryder being so called just because her husband was a Baron.
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That prune thread is good. What provision does the site have for recording this stuff. Photos are not stored on the site and could disappear at any moment.
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Map maker - some of the older pictures have gone but one from OCT 09 - Post #1223 is still there. Right click on it and you get the option to print or "Save as" among others.
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About 10 years ago there was an obit about a Scottish Lancaster pilot. He earned a VC for crawling on the wing to put out a fire. After the war he returned to Edinburgh, went to college and then got married. Only after a year or so of marriage did his wife learn about the VC.
Was he extremely laid back, or just wanted to forget about the war? I don't know.
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I must say politely Aretas that I think you have got two stories mixed. I can't visualise a pilot leaving the controls to do anything. I think the pilot you are speaking of was Flt lt Reid; after the war he went to live in Scotland and worked in agricultural supplies and his wife did not know he had a VC until after they were married. I should add that on a later raid, bombing the V3 sites at Mimoyeques, his Lancaster was hit by a 20,000lb bomb dropped by a Lancaster flying higher than him. It did not explode but the aircraft fell to bits anyway and Lord was a POW until the end of the war
The man who went out on the wing was a Sgt Engineer who used his parachute as a sort of safety harness and took a fire extinguisher with him. His parachute caught fire and he fell off the wing; he survived his fall and was a POW for a while. He died a few years ago and was called Norman Jackson
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I did say it was 10 years ago! Just re-read the obit, and I guess I was talking about Flt Lt Reid. Obit is here if anyone is interested. tinyurl.com/36468yz
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www.directart.co.uk/mall/more.php?ProdID=3721
tells both concatenated (above) VC-in-a-Lancaster stories.
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www.rafbombercommand.com/people_vcwinners_citations002.html Chap called Ward did the job more effectively in a Wellington.
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Blimey, if that's allowed.There's 100 pages of the pprune material. It's very interesting but I'll need to take it in episodes. No stamina!
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The Telegraph publish a collection of military obits. I need to dig it out and read it again.
Very humbling to read, sometimes sad but often funny as well. Quite a few of the folks who performed outstanding acts of bravery had a mischievous sense of humour too.
Kevin...
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Here is a link to Sgt, later W/O Jackson. www.macla.co.uk/newsmag/2006/12/sgt-norman-cyril-jackson-vc.html
Last edited by: Perky Penguin on Tue 7 Sep 10 at 19:25
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Whilst out at a favourite restaurant some 10 + years ago we met a Gentleman who had been in Lancaster's during WW11 and he carried a small book with him detailing (his) flight operations. Quite an unassuming chap and quite humbling to listen to the very few snippets he cared to speak about. So sad that I cannot remember his name. As someone above said, when it's too late it's too late. God bless them all.
Martin.
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The youngest people to have served in WW2 are now in their eighties. My mum (who coincidentally is 93 today) was a WRNS officer in Orkney: she won an MBE for working in the operations room and keeping up the spirits of the men whose comrades were being killed or wounded in action.
Her first husband died a hero as a Fleet Air Arm pilot on an abortive raid on Norway in 1940: her second - my father - was also Fleet Air Arm: Commander Flying on various aircraft carriers.
Over the years I've met many of their ex-service friends: nearly all were brave in one way or another, and nearly all tended to say 'I was just doing the job I was paid for'. There is a heroism in that attitude itself.
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Don't forget that youngsters are doing the same sort of thing these days as well...
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Yes. The armed services. Sterling Men and Women. Lions led by Donkeys.
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Off on a tangent... a very good friend of mine, who I've known for donkey's years, and whose kids I have the honour to be Godfather to, was round at my place the other day.
He was perusing my bookshelf, and found a couple of books on Burma during WW2, writtne by the chaps who were there, and won a few medals.
"Did you enjoy this one?" he asked. 'My grandfather wrote it."
Turns out his grandfather was a highly-decorated soldier and author.
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The Telegraph obituaries the other day had a 93 year old who was the last survivor of the St Nazaire raid.
The obituary carried an actual photograph of him taken when he was captured -- hands in the air ........ both hands giving the Germans the Churchill salute.......
A neighbour of SWMBO before we were married was a great character but to all intents a gin sodden old buffer ( you could smell alcohol on his breath at seven in the morning).
It was only when 'A bridge too far ' came out that we put two and two together and realised he was an Colonel in WW2 who distinguished himself leading his troops at Arnhem.....
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Just watched "Wellington" (building a Wellington at the Broughton works) - brilliant testimony from the ex-workers there, mostly women.
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Father was in Burma in WW": adjutant of a Sikh regiment. Was chased out by the Japanese and saw action in most countries in the Middle East.. Iraq, Palestine, Iran (Persia then), India, etc..
Never talked about it. I read the regimental history and can see why.. Must have been very difficult and stressful.. He had a number of wounds which he would not discuss.
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One guy I wished I'd known about and met ! - Zero
