What that generation of Aviators endured is very hard to imagine yet understand and appreciate.
A Friend of the Family that I learned to admire joined the RCAF before the American entry into the War....having been turned down by the US Army Air Corps *now the USAF" and eventually wound up a Lancaster Pilot flying out of Teeside doing thirty-one missions with most of them being into Germany.
In his old age I used to take him out for Lunch and listened to him talk of those days.....he was a most humble Man who talked more of others and how their loss so affected him.
He was proud of that service....and stayed in the RCAF throughout the War despite being offered an opportunity to join the his own American forces.
It is a fine. thing that you are keeping the memory of those young Men alive and there service and sacrifice is not forgotten.
When I returned to Teeside on a visit...having flown out of there to the Ekofisk and stood before the Monument to the Canadian Squadrons.....I found it quite moving as he had passed away by then.
Looking at the monument....I could see his face and that warm smile he always seem to have.