A "TRIBUTE" to Bomber Command!

[Chris Goddard]

I have watched this story unfold today and an only say "were it NOT for them the whole 2nd World War would have been a different outcome? Not really as there were a LOT more than just Bomber Command at risk! BUT why they were NEVER mentioned and no Memorial was EVER erected to them?? Well that is a bloody shame!

 

BUT to the elderly chap who made a Statement that it WAS HIS BOMBER COMMAND who won the war I really do think he was getting a little forward of himself!

 

My Father (God rest his sole) at 19 was conscripted to the RAF as a Radar operator and after doing his time in England we was attached to a SMALL unit of about twenty chaps who's job was top operate out of the rear of several Trucks in a small Village on the French/German border (Strasbourg)in a VERY small village RIGHT on the German Border. he stayed in barracks mainly BUT was allowed to mix with the local villagers. WE went to that village a VERY tiny Village which was Close to the forest of Christmas trees or something?? Barracks were at bottom of the road and a driver was killed when his truck went out of control on the road somewhere there.

 

An oval door as it was pictured that someone from his Squadron had taken (Looked exactly the flipping same. No Cuprinol here then?)!! And my Dad, was made a corporal at 20 And used to take the wagons and his sets to the top of the Hill every night under cover of dankness to allow the BLOODY Brave bastards or flight/bomber crews into Germany and so able

to drop shells upon Germany!

 

BUT if my Dad and his mates had NOT done what he did Then BLOODY Bomber COMMAND But how well could those bombs have been possibly have been dropped on Germany with so many dropped on the right targets!! So they WERE BRAVE YES! with the help of others! BUT my Dad was over in Germany allowing them to do was they had been asked to do!! And despite ALL the efforts of the messengers only two MEN WERE EVEN KILLED AND THAT WAS ONLY DUE TO SILLY BLOODY DRIVING WHEN DRUNK AND KILLED BY A stray shot! in two years .

 

So my Dad and his MATES did as much as Bomber command and this is also a MEMORIAL to THEM!!!! So F**K you!! Only MY Dad is not alive to tell the tale?

 

He was asked to stay on with the RAF made into an officer and such. EVEN as such a YOUNG conscripted Non-CON he didn't and thank goodness for that if THAT is how they treat HEROES??

[corydoras]

What about the code breakers at Benchly Park Chris? They have a memorial now but had to wait until 2011. 2011 was the first time the Queen had even been to Benchly Park. Look at the disgraceful way that Alan Turing was treated after the war, just because he was a homosexual.

 

I get a bit peeved when I hear people complaining about Polish people coming hear to work. They obviously know nothing about 303 Squadron or HMS Pozarica and PQ17 or the Carpathian Lancers Regiment that fought in the desert in Tobruk and were on the front line for more than 3 months without relief.

 

Their are a lot conveniently short memories in this country Chris.

[chesters1]

they with others finally took Monte Cassino ,the americans helped kill the french in north africa but mere "involvement" doesn't get you rights otherwise us and the americans would own france ,the low countries ,north africa and the pacific and russia a fair bit still

 

after all it was poland that started the war by getting invaded before that it was just historical border skirmishes

Edited June 29, 2012 by chesters1

[barry luxton]

120,000 volunteers, of those at least 50,000 died, that is what this is about. I applaude what they have done in the memory of these guys who never had the chance of a full life.

[corydoras]

they with others finally took Monte Cassino ,the americans helped kill the french in north africa but mere "involvement" doesn't get you rights otherwise us and the americans would own france ,the low countries ,north africa and the pacific and russia a fair bit still

 

after all it was poland that started the war by getting invaded before that it was just historical border skirmishes

Being a member of another EU state gets you rights, the same mechanism that gives the originator of the thread to live in France.

 

Involvement warrants a modicum of respect.

Edited June 29, 2012 by corydoras

[chesters1]

respect?

people lived in france well before the EU existed i dare say theres the foolish who will long after its gone

Edited June 29, 2012 by chesters1

[Sportsman]

My Father flew bombers.

I wish he had lived to see this.

[Puzzled]

Ther's been a lot said in the last day or so about the rights and wrongs of the Allies bombing strategy in the 2nd world war.

 

Regardless of the moral arguments, the casualty rates amongst those incredibly brave young men was frighteningly high (55,000 dead / missing) and it's sad that's it's taken so long to formally recognise their actions.

 

It's about time.

[Colin Brett]

My Dad never went to war as such, he spent the war years using his radio making and repairing skills sitting in the Pye factory in Cambridge having been moved from Norwich.

Now none of the other services would have been a lot of use without him and his fellow factory workers.

 

It all boils down to a great effort by the whole nation and its allies whether fighters, land workers, code breakers whatever.

 

Interesting to see the program on Bomber command on ITV tonight, those fellow certainly had pretty poor odds against them.

[chesters1]

the chap whose rigid right finger that screws his PC up who i sort out every few days has flown 64 different planes ,he flew Stirlings mostly in the war mostly for SOE operations ,my grandfather was a tail gunner (so i am told as my grandparents separated when my mum was 13) he topped himself in 1968 not sure why but his job was one of the worst in bombers

 

i'm not sure blanket or strategic bombing achieved much but guess it improved the morale of the people as we were returning the favour

Edited July 4, 2012 by chesters1