It seems government agencies deal with things like this is mysterious ways. Dad did something ( he would never say what) but it did involve, as he put it, ' putting on yer finest bib and tucker for an audience with the Old Man' Clearly it wasn,t a capitol offence as he was told there was a raid on that night and will deal with it when he returns-but that was the raid they were shot down.
After the war, someone wisely at the time decided, after being shot down ( and knowing 3 of his crewmates perished in the crash-rear gunner trapped in the turret, mid upper went back to help and Skipper remained at controls) being POW for 13 months, a forced march in the middle of winter 1945, and being mistaken at the town of Griesse (sp) for a column of German soldiers and shot up by a flight of RAF Typhoons, that perhaps he had served his sentence for the minor misdeed, and it never went further. In fact, he was given an honourable discharge as Pilot Officer in 1946.
He rejoined the RCAF about 11 years later,not as P O but as AC2-at that time nothing was mentioned about this misdeed. Fast forward to his retirement in 1973, and a shiny new Career Officer noticed on his file that charges were still shown as pending from 1944! Justice must be served for he paraded dad to the CO ( also a WW2 vet and did (ahem!) know of Dad, but in a good way. The CO listened, then quietly told the Career Officer that unless he wanted to be transferred off the base by 2PM, to be Supply Officer in charge of toilet paper inventory at CFS Alert ( Canada,s most northern base, only several hundred miles from the North Pole) he might wish to reconsider proceeding. Wisely, he did, but not before earning himself the unwanted duty of OOD for 6 weekends in a row-to steep himself in military traditions as the CO put it.