Bomber Command
I have just finished re-reading Patrick Bishop's terrific book "Bomber Boys". It is a must for anyone who has an interest in the part yhat Bomber Command played during the last war. I would just like to quote from the last part of the book p.395 . It is of general interest but particularly to anyone who was in or has connections with 78 Sqdn. ANCIENTAVIATOR62 take note.
Quote; "In Britain there is no public day to mark their sacrifice (my note Bomber Command). But many of the dead airmen shot down over France, Belgium, Holland and Norway are still remembered on the anniversary of their deaths by local communities who regard them as liberators and heroes. In September 2006, the small town of Werkendam gave a fitting burial to the crew of a 78 Sqdn. Halifax that was shot down by a night fighter and crashed into marshy ground on the night of 24/25 May 1944. The town council raised £85,000 towards the cost of retrieving their remains and raising the headstones, The councillor who led the campaign, Gerard Paans declared "We owe our freedom to these brave airmen"
The inscription on a plaque in Tuddenham Parish church in Suffolk commemorates a crew who died flying from the base, which has now, melted back into the fields. There are only seven names on it. But the inscription could serve for all the dead Bomber Boys.
Went the day well?
We died and never knew.
But well or ill, Freedom,
We died for you.