There is a side story lurking about here which is in danger of sliding under the carpet. I will let (excerpts) of Posts speak for themselves:
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14th Nov 2015, 12:07
#7637
pulse1
I am using this thread to try and motivate my neighbour to tell us his story. He is very reluctant.
He was a Beaufighter observer and was shot down in the Med. He was captured and taken to an Italian prison camp where he remained until Italy surrendered. Although they were ordered to stay in the camp he escaped and tried to make his way to Switzerland but was captured by the Germans and taken to POW camp in East Germany. When the Russians "liberated" them he witnessed some awful sights as soldiers raped women who had come into the camp seeking protection. It was this that made him realise that this was "real war" and made him reluctant to talk about it.
I particularly want to record his story as a record of how ordinary people, a Durham miner in his case, trained and operated as aircrew, and then went on to totally different lives. In his case he became a schoolteacher in Dorset. It probably wont be long before we lose his story for good.
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15th Nov 2015, 06:17
#7640
Danny42C
pulse1,
Your #7639: ".... He is very reluctant...". This is a very common experience: there has to be an underlying reason and it might be worth while to explore it. Perhaps your neighbour is not 'on line' (few of us nonagarians are), have you tried to tempt him by reading him some of our 'back numbers' ? (that's the way they got me in). And many more than I must have been struck by the coincidences with John Eacott's father's story. He couldn't possibly be a "Bob", by any chance ?
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15th Nov 2015, 08:50
#7641
Geriaviator
Pulse1,
Please do try to coax/help your neighbour's story. I have a book by a former Beau observer and I would have been terrified to have been stuck under that dome halfway back, never mind the glasshouse effect under Med sun.......
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15th Nov 2015, 09:33
#7642
pulse1
have you tried to tempt him by reading him some of our 'back numbers' ? (that's the way they got me in)
I do have an accomplice who is much closer to him than I am and we are making sure that he at least reads the posts from John Eacott
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22nd Nov 2015, 00:32
#7659
Danny42C
Matters arising from......
pulse1 (your #7644),
Best of luck with your attempts to lure your old-timer out of his lair, perhaps he could be encouraged by the wealth of new contributors which has just cropped-up !
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22nd Nov 2015, 12:17
#7663
FantomZorbin
Danny 42C
Apologies for the delay. Re: your #7642. It was indeed a 'Bob' that I barely saw a glimpse of! It was in the early '60s. I intended to write to my MP but he wasn't even born then (DOB probably yesterday!!)
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23rd Nov 2015, 00:06
#7667
Danny42C
Walter603 (your #7662)
You (and others) must surely have noticed the extraordinary points of resemblence between FantomZorbin's "Bob"'s (#7665) story and your own ?
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Then the trail has gone cold. Walter, was your Navigator by any chance called "Bob" when you got your ducking in the Aegean ? (no, that's too much of a coincidence to ask for).
EDIT: Idiot ! - the answer's in p.382 #7632.
It WAS a "Bob". But not your Bob ?
pulse1,
Any luck yet ? Anybody else add anything to this tantalising snippet of a story ?
Danny.