'Stop Cryin' in the Rear Rank' Can this be true?
'Stop Cryin' in the Rear Rank' is the title of a very interesting book which I found whilst searching out non-mainstream titles in the 'Military History' listings on Ebay. It is subtitled 'An Armourer's Worm's Eye View of World War II From the Ground' (which is rather tautological I think).
It is the first hand experiences of former Sgt Ron Borg during WW2 and was privately published in Canada so I suspect it is quite a rare publication. There is a vast amount of detail of life in the RAF, from his pre-war days as a Halton Apprentice to his various postings during the war and in Canada afterwards.
The point of this post however relates to a rhetorical question which he poses in the book -'Which member of 149 Squadron [flew on] the most operations?' He continues - 'It was certainly not a member of the aircrew but a young armourer on my flight. He did his work and whenever possible went on missions to the Continent. He preferred to fly with Commonwealth types; perhaps they had better chocolate and other candy. He did this for many months and was very popular with aircrews as he always returned safely. He was a sort of good luck charm. For obvious reasons I preferred not to know about his flying hobby. Provided his work was done satisfactorily, I regarded his 'dicing with death' as his own business'.
Can this be possible? Was it a common event for ground crew members to go unofficially on missions over Germany?