Signature Report
Here I am recovering from what was quite a tiring but enjoyable day with the other old Fogeys that gathered with about five hundred eager Autograph Hunters at the very home of the fabulous Mosquito at Salisbury Hall near St. Albans and, of course , Hatfield.
I had never attended one of these signing sessions before and was amazed at the enthusiastic numbers that attended. We were about thirty "Veterans" all looking about the same and most of us in Regulation blazer with a loud jangling that accompanied every step from the rows of medals that were hanging from various points on the body. It was well organised but I was not prepared for the queues that were everlasting. I must say that the vast majority of people that were presenting us with everything from pieces of paper to toilet roll paper that had come from the seat where some famous name had sat; unused, I hasten to add ! , were very polite, enthusiastic and very, very grateful to us for coming and most of them would add "And thank you for what you did.", or words to that effect. One chap had brought a piece of the engine that his Father had kept after he had crashed in a Mosquito amd also a special pen that would write on the metal. There were however some wonderful paintings and drawings that I had never seen before. There was one book that I thumbed through and was quite emotionally touched when I came across the picture,, in a group, of the Navigator,Sgt. les Hogan, from Southport, who had been my Navigator on the "Ops" that I had done at Marham in 1942.. He had stayed on Mossies when I went on to heavies and had been killed very soon afterwards. The owner of the book "Mosquito Thunder" ,kindly e-mailed the details and I ordered it from Amazon yesterday.. I was amazed to get a confirmation from them that it was ordered ,with a personal note saying that the Amazon employee that had handled the order was a certain Lady with a Polish surname whose Father had been a member of 105 Sqdn. and she would very much like to know my connection, They enclosed an address and I have replied furnishing what details I could and , genuinely, praising the many Polish airmen that I had met and had only the greatest admiration for their bravery in combat which surpassed anything that we had known but then we had never been invaded and occupied since 1066. There had been at least one incident where a Pole had rammed a German bomber when his ammunition had been exhausted rather than let it escape.
To go back to the signing; we were taken by coach to a very lovely nearby Pub and given a very good meal with one of the best red wines I have tasted for a long time. It was a shame that a few of us who were driving had to ration ourselves to one glass. Then it was back to the grindstone and ,at a rough guess, I reckon that I finished by signing my name about 400 times... Yes, there were one or two obvious dealers who had about five or six identical prints and the same spiel "..for some friends"but I was agreeably surprised by the amount of really young people
in their twenties and thirties who were present. A surprising amount of children too and, wonderfully, very, very polite and grateful. There is hope for us yet. I felt humble when I heard the chap next to me telling one of them that he had been over Berlin 27 times during his tour with Mossies laying Target indicators for the main stream to aim upon. 27 times ! I had been three times and once was already enough. I think that his name was F.Lt.Durnford.DFC. Sandy Sandeson, Ex BOAC and fellow trainee in 1941, if you are reading this, Ken Tempest D.F.C. sent you his best regards. He was also British Airways, (BOAC) he said,and remembers you well. So it was a good day but as the little Lancashire lad who had been sitting on his cold doorstep said when he came indoors , "Eeh by Goom,Moom, Me Boombs Noomb," Regle