Would have loved to have spoken to your Dad about his experiences mate.
When I was in Germany (87-92) I visited the Mohne on a few occasions. You can still see the 'V' shaped mark of the repair of the brick work following the raid.
RAF 100 years old this year as we know. Proud to say that I served for 28 of those 100 years. (Sorry for the lapse into 'self-indulgence').
Real heroes, the greatest generation. I was lucky enough to meet 'Johnnie' Johnson at a military show about 10 years ago I guess, I spent about 15 minutes chatting to him in one of the bar areas, where he was signing autographs and posing for pictures, he spoke about Operation Chastise and about his job as an air gunner, he said that they were under no illusion that they probably wont be coming back but 'we went anyway', can you imagine setting off knowing that, balls of bloody steel. He also spoke about his early life, he had a really tough upbringing, which I guess gave him the minerals to deal with his missions. The bloke should be knighted. Over 55,000 air crew gave their lives for you and me during WW2, never forget.
Dambusters raid is something that should never be forgotten one of the most memorable moments of the whole Second World War, whilst D-Day had yet to happen, it was proof that Britain werent out of it (nor were they leaving it up to the Russians) by a long way...
The 1955 film is one of the best War films around too - Would love to see them do a remake like they've been promising for years
Was watching a programme on C5 last night to do with the InterCity 125 and as someone rightfully said - We bloody well know how to design and build things here.
My uncle was in bomber command and spent most of it as a radio operator on Wellingtons. He could talk for hours about his experiences and I used to be transfixed listening to him.
He lived down in Somerset and he came with us when we went to the Fleet Air Arm museum at Yeovilton. We were in there for hours, he seemed to have a story for every plane.
He helped out with the restoration of the Wellington they pulled out of Loch Ness which is at Brooklands.
Had my first flight at age 10 in a Tiger Moth out of Scampton....1958. Lincolnshire is steeped in RAF and aviation history. You can’t go far without seeing or hearing some reference to them. The Red Arrows are stationed at Scampton.
Would have loved to have spoken to your Dad about his experiences mate.
When I was in Germany (87-92) I visited the Mohne on a few occasions. You can still see the 'V' shaped mark of the repair of the brick work following the raid.
RAF 100 years old this year as we know. Proud to say that I served for 28 of those 100 years. (Sorry for the lapse into 'self-indulgence').
Bloke at work tells me his dad worked with Barnes Wallis to design the bomb bay doors....
Would have loved to have spoken to your Dad about his experiences mate.
When I was in Germany (87-92) I visited the Mohne on a few occasions. You can still see the 'V' shaped mark of the repair of the brick work following the raid.
RAF 100 years old this year as we know. Proud to say that I served for 28 of those 100 years. (Sorry for the lapse into 'self-indulgence').
My dad was a man of very few words and you would have found it difficult to get much out of him sadly - lived up to the stereotype of the dour Scotsman, but in reality he was just quite shy, I think. never knew him that well - his tragedy was that he got promoted to Warrant Officer when he was happiest in overalls with his head in an engine....
Would have loved to have spoken to your Dad about his experiences mate.
When I was in Germany (87-92) I visited the Mohne on a few occasions. You can still see the 'V' shaped mark of the repair of the brick work following the raid.
RAF 100 years old this year as we know. Proud to say that I served for 28 of those 100 years. (Sorry for the lapse into 'self-indulgence').
My dad was a man of very few words and you would have found it difficult to get much out of him sadly - lived up to the stereotype of the dour Scotsman, but in reality he was just quite shy, I think. never knew him that well - his tragedy was that he got promoted to Warrant Officer when he was happiest in overalls with his head in an engine....
My Grandad was the same, I can't remember ever having more than a handful of actual conversations with him. Complete opposite to his brother (my Uncle in the RAF).
Pity, as by all accounts he'd had a fairly eventful war in the Royal Artillery, mainly in the far east. He was apparently awarded a bravery medal when his carrier got ambushed but he never claimed it.
Would have loved to have spoken to your Dad about his experiences mate.
When I was in Germany (87-92) I visited the Mohne on a few occasions. You can still see the 'V' shaped mark of the repair of the brick work following the raid.
RAF 100 years old this year as we know. Proud to say that I served for 28 of those 100 years. (Sorry for the lapse into 'self-indulgence').
My dad was a man of very few words and you would have found it difficult to get much out of him sadly - lived up to the stereotype of the dour Scotsman, but in reality he was just quite shy, I think. never knew him that well - his tragedy was that he got promoted to Warrant Officer when he was happiest in overalls with his head in an engine....
My Grandad was the same, I can't remember ever having more than a handful of actual conversations with him. Complete opposite to his brother (my Uncle in the RAF).
Pity, as by all accounts he'd had a fairly eventful war in the Royal Artillery, mainly in the far east. He was apparently awarded a bravery medal when his carrier got ambushed but he never claimed it.
my great uncle never talks about his experiences in north africa with the RAF regiment. My great aunt dug out pictures he took when he was there (photography was a hobby of his) and he happily sat with us talking about it until we turned to a picture of one of his mates and a fresh grave. He flipped out and refused to say any more whilst berating my great aunt for "boring the kids" with "stuff we didn't want to hear about". He's still knocking about at 96 and is one of the best human beings i know. Special generation that.
Dambusters raid is something that should never be forgotten one of the most memorable moments of the whole Second World War, whilst D-Day had yet to happen, it was proof that Britain werent out of it (nor were they leaving it up to the Russians) by a long way...
The 1955 film is one of the best War films around too - Would love to see them do a remake like they've been promising for years
Was watching a programme on C5 last night to do with the InterCity 125 and as someone rightfully said - We bloody well know how to design and build things here.
My favourite film and often watch it. A remake? I'm not sure part of the films character is the grainy black and white, it also be very difficult not to make comparisons. They'd also never get away with calling a dog by that name!!
Dambusters raid is something that should never be forgotten one of the most memorable moments of the whole Second World War, whilst D-Day had yet to happen, it was proof that Britain werent out of it (nor were they leaving it up to the Russians) by a long way...
The 1955 film is one of the best War films around too - Would love to see them do a remake like they've been promising for years
Was watching a programme on C5 last night to do with the InterCity 125 and as someone rightfully said - We bloody well know how to design and build things here.
My favourite film and often watch it. A remake? I'm not sure part of the films character is the grainy black and white, it also be very difficult not to make comparisons. They'd also never get away with calling a dog by that name!!
Apparently it was Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) who wanted to make a new updated Dambusters film
To be honest and a little naughty I want to see the remake just because of the dogs name...
Would have loved to have spoken to your Dad about his experiences mate.
When I was in Germany (87-92) I visited the Mohne on a few occasions. You can still see the 'V' shaped mark of the repair of the brick work following the raid.
RAF 100 years old this year as we know. Proud to say that I served for 28 of those 100 years. (Sorry for the lapse into 'self-indulgence').
My dad was a man of very few words and you would have found it difficult to get much out of him sadly - lived up to the stereotype of the dour Scotsman, but in reality he was just quite shy, I think. never knew him that well - his tragedy was that he got promoted to Warrant Officer when he was happiest in overalls with his head in an engine....
My Grandad was the same, I can't remember ever having more than a handful of actual conversations with him. Complete opposite to his brother (my Uncle in the RAF).
Pity, as by all accounts he'd had a fairly eventful war in the Royal Artillery, mainly in the far east. He was apparently awarded a bravery medal when his carrier got ambushed but he never claimed it.
my great uncle never talks about his experiences in north africa with the RAF regiment. My great aunt dug out pictures he took when he was there (photography was a hobby of his) and he happily sat with us talking about it until we turned to a picture of one of his mates and a fresh grave. He flipped out and refused to say any more whilst berating my great aunt for "boring the kids" with "stuff we didn't want to hear about". He's still knocking about at 96 and is one of the best human beings i know. Special generation that.
You should try and get his experiences recorded, obviously if he doesn't want to then it would be hard, but maybe if you explain that you do want to know. They wont be around forever, and since the last WW1 Tommy died (Harry Patch) publishers have realised that they missed the boat on WW1 accounts so are clamouring for first hand accounts of WW2. I wrote a short book about my grandfathers army service, he joined up in 1923 and served until 1951 in the Royal Hampshires, he was in India and then with the BEF at Dunkirk and then D-Day in 1944 and then in the Recce Corp at the end of the war, he also taught what they called 'unarmed combat' in the army and boxed as well, in fact he gave me my love of boxing and fighting arts, so much so that, up to 5 years ago, I used to teach 'unarmed combat' to his amalgamated regiment, The PWRR (The Hampshires and The Queens) at Rochester barracks, pre deployment, so it went full circle. He was a real hard bastard, and told us many great stories, he came back after Dunkirk on leave with a Luger as a trophy after he done a German officer, I was lucky enough to fire it when I was 11. I am immensely proud of him and what he and his like achieved. As you say a special generation.
Would have loved to have spoken to your Dad about his experiences mate.
When I was in Germany (87-92) I visited the Mohne on a few occasions. You can still see the 'V' shaped mark of the repair of the brick work following the raid.
RAF 100 years old this year as we know. Proud to say that I served for 28 of those 100 years. (Sorry for the lapse into 'self-indulgence').
My dad was a man of very few words and you would have found it difficult to get much out of him sadly - lived up to the stereotype of the dour Scotsman, but in reality he was just quite shy, I think. never knew him that well - his tragedy was that he got promoted to Warrant Officer when he was happiest in overalls with his head in an engine....
My Grandad was the same, I can't remember ever having more than a handful of actual conversations with him. Complete opposite to his brother (my Uncle in the RAF).
Pity, as by all accounts he'd had a fairly eventful war in the Royal Artillery, mainly in the far east. He was apparently awarded a bravery medal when his carrier got ambushed but he never claimed it.
my great uncle never talks about his experiences in north africa with the RAF regiment. My great aunt dug out pictures he took when he was there (photography was a hobby of his) and he happily sat with us talking about it until we turned to a picture of one of his mates and a fresh grave. He flipped out and refused to say any more whilst berating my great aunt for "boring the kids" with "stuff we didn't want to hear about". He's still knocking about at 96 and is one of the best human beings i know. Special generation that.
You should try and get his experiences recorded, obviously if he doesn't want to then it would be hard, but maybe if you explain that you do want to know. They wont be around forever, and since the last WW1 Tommy died (Harry Patch) publishers have realised that they missed the boat on WW1 accounts so are clamouring for first hand accounts of WW2. I wrote a short book about my grandfathers army service, he joined up in 1923 and served until 1951 in the Royal Hampshires, he was in India and then with the BEF at Dunkirk and then D-Day in 1944 and then in the Recce Corp at the end of the war, he also taught what they called 'unarmed combat' in the army and boxed as well, in fact he gave me my love of boxing and fighting arts, so much so that, up to 5 years ago, I used to teach 'unarmed combat' to his amalgamated regiment, The PWRR (The Hampshires and The Queens) at Rochester barracks, pre deployment, so it went full circle. He was a real hard bastard, and told us many great stories, he came back after Dunkirk on leave with a Luger as a trophy after he done a German officer, I was lucky enough to fire it when I was 11. I am immensely proud of him and what he and his like achieved. As you say a special generation.
Iirc my great aunt documented it all at about the same time she was putting all the photos together. Should be knocking around somewhere although she passed a year or so ago. My dads cousins should have copies, if not my parents.
Would have loved to have spoken to your Dad about his experiences mate.
When I was in Germany (87-92) I visited the Mohne on a few occasions. You can still see the 'V' shaped mark of the repair of the brick work following the raid.
RAF 100 years old this year as we know. Proud to say that I served for 28 of those 100 years. (Sorry for the lapse into 'self-indulgence').
My dad was a man of very few words and you would have found it difficult to get much out of him sadly - lived up to the stereotype of the dour Scotsman, but in reality he was just quite shy, I think. never knew him that well - his tragedy was that he got promoted to Warrant Officer when he was happiest in overalls with his head in an engine....
My Grandad was the same, I can't remember ever having more than a handful of actual conversations with him. Complete opposite to his brother (my Uncle in the RAF).
Pity, as by all accounts he'd had a fairly eventful war in the Royal Artillery, mainly in the far east. He was apparently awarded a bravery medal when his carrier got ambushed but he never claimed it.
my great uncle never talks about his experiences in north africa with the RAF regiment. My great aunt dug out pictures he took when he was there (photography was a hobby of his) and he happily sat with us talking about it until we turned to a picture of one of his mates and a fresh grave. He flipped out and refused to say any more whilst berating my great aunt for "boring the kids" with "stuff we didn't want to hear about". He's still knocking about at 96 and is one of the best human beings i know. Special generation that.
You should try and get his experiences recorded, obviously if he doesn't want to then it would be hard, but maybe if you explain that you do want to know. They wont be around forever, and since the last WW1 Tommy died (Harry Patch) publishers have realised that they missed the boat on WW1 accounts so are clamouring for first hand accounts of WW2. I wrote a short book about my grandfathers army service, he joined up in 1923 and served until 1951 in the Royal Hampshires, he was in India and then with the BEF at Dunkirk and then D-Day in 1944 and then in the Recce Corp at the end of the war, he also taught what they called 'unarmed combat' in the army and boxed as well, in fact he gave me my love of boxing and fighting arts, so much so that, up to 5 years ago, I used to teach 'unarmed combat' to his amalgamated regiment, The PWRR (The Hampshires and The Queens) at Rochester barracks, pre deployment, so it went full circle. He was a real hard bastard, and told us many great stories, he came back after Dunkirk on leave with a Luger as a trophy after he done a German officer, I was lucky enough to fire it when I was 11. I am immensely proud of him and what he and his like achieved. As you say a special generation.
Iirc my great aunt documented it all at about the same time she was putting all the photos together. Should be knocking around somewhere although she passed a year or so ago. My dads cousins should have copies, if not my parents.
Thats good news @kentaddick , if you have enough content and pictures and want his War history published, then Pen and Sword may be interested. https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
Comments
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-43892289
When I was in Germany (87-92) I visited the Mohne on a few occasions. You can still see the 'V' shaped mark of the repair of the brick work following the raid.
RAF 100 years old this year as we know. Proud to say that I served for 28 of those 100 years. (Sorry for the lapse into 'self-indulgence').
I was lucky enough to meet 'Johnnie' Johnson at a military show about 10 years ago I guess, I spent about 15 minutes chatting to him in one of the bar areas, where he was signing autographs and posing for pictures, he spoke about Operation Chastise and about his job as an air gunner, he said that they were under no illusion that they probably wont be coming back but 'we went anyway', can you imagine setting off knowing that, balls of bloody steel. He also spoke about his early life, he had a really tough upbringing, which I guess gave him the minerals to deal with his missions.
The bloke should be knighted.
Over 55,000 air crew gave their lives for you and me during WW2, never forget.
The 1955 film is one of the best War films around too - Would love to see them do a remake like they've been promising for years
Was watching a programme on C5 last night to do with the InterCity 125 and as someone rightfully said - We bloody well know how to design and build things here.
My uncle was in bomber command and spent most of it as a radio operator on Wellingtons. He could talk for hours about his experiences and I used to be transfixed listening to him.
He lived down in Somerset and he came with us when we went to the Fleet Air Arm museum at Yeovilton. We were in there for hours, he seemed to have a story for every plane.
He helped out with the restoration of the Wellington they pulled out of Loch Ness which is at Brooklands.
Lincolnshire is steeped in RAF and aviation history.
You can’t go far without seeing or hearing some reference to them.
The Red Arrows are stationed at Scampton.
Pity, as by all accounts he'd had a fairly eventful war in the Royal Artillery, mainly in the far east. He was apparently awarded a bravery medal when his carrier got ambushed but he never claimed it.
To be honest and a little naughty I want to see the remake just because of the dogs name...
They wont be around forever, and since the last WW1 Tommy died (Harry Patch) publishers have realised that they missed the boat on WW1 accounts so are clamouring for first hand accounts of WW2.
I wrote a short book about my grandfathers army service, he joined up in 1923 and served until 1951 in the Royal Hampshires, he was in India and then with the BEF at Dunkirk and then D-Day in 1944 and then in the Recce Corp at the end of the war, he also taught what they called 'unarmed combat' in the army and boxed as well, in fact he gave me my love of boxing and fighting arts, so much so that, up to 5 years ago, I used to teach 'unarmed combat' to his amalgamated regiment, The PWRR (The Hampshires and The Queens) at Rochester barracks, pre deployment, so it went full circle.
He was a real hard bastard, and told us many great stories, he came back after Dunkirk on leave with a Luger as a trophy after he done a German officer, I was lucky enough to fire it when I was 11. I am immensely proud of him and what he and his like achieved.
As you say a special generation.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0076chn
https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk