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As many of you know, I live in the East of England - the bit that sticks out in a large lump, tantalisingly close to mainland Europe. This proximity worked in two ways - the mighty Luftwaffe could use their bases in occupied Europe to fly over and bomb us, but we, in turn, could use the wide open spaces of East Anglia to build literally dozens of airfields for our heavy bombers, Commonwealth and American. I live a couple of miles away from one such airfield, formerly a flying base, RAF Alconbury, home of just one of the many US 8th Army Airforce bombardment squadrons.
The UK and Commonwealth bombed mostly by night, while our American allies by day - a relentless pounding down of a Germany that had 'sown the wind', and was now 'reaping the whirlwind'. So much of the flying training took place at night, and it was one such training flight on the night of 26th March 1942 that ended in tragedy. The four young men died instantly when their Handley-Page Hampden medium bomber came to earth about three miles from my house.
Please take a moment out of your busy schedule to watch this little movie I made yesterday...
This left-hand photo shows three of the four - the middle airman is Flight Sergeant Doug Lindsey, whose niece came over to visit with us a few years back, at this time of year. His sister, very aged, remembers his 'bonny blue' eyes vividly...the missing airman is standing beside Doug in the other photo.
This is where they are buried - the churchyard of Old St Swithun's church, Old Weston, Huntingdonshire, deep in the rural landscape.
and here they are...oddly enough, Doug's mom came from Battle creek, Michigan. Probably yet another American/Canadian who wanted to do his bit, like so many others had done before him.
...and here we were, Doug's niece is in the front middle, with me and Mrs tac on each side of her...others are members of the Old Weston Historical Society and the local parish council.
The older gentleman with the stick was six years old at the time of the crash, and remembered it well - the flames, he said, were over a hundred feet high in the night sky.
The RAF suffered horrendous casualties between September 1939 and the end of hostilities in Europe in May of 1945, but it was Bomber Command that suffered most of all. Over fifty-five thousand young men from UK and the Dominions died, and over eleven thousand of them were Canadians.
Here are just four of them.
They had their tomorrows taken away by a cruel fate, so that we could have our todays.
Remember them.
The UK and Commonwealth bombed mostly by night, while our American allies by day - a relentless pounding down of a Germany that had 'sown the wind', and was now 'reaping the whirlwind'. So much of the flying training took place at night, and it was one such training flight on the night of 26th March 1942 that ended in tragedy. The four young men died instantly when their Handley-Page Hampden medium bomber came to earth about three miles from my house.
Please take a moment out of your busy schedule to watch this little movie I made yesterday...
This left-hand photo shows three of the four - the middle airman is Flight Sergeant Doug Lindsey, whose niece came over to visit with us a few years back, at this time of year. His sister, very aged, remembers his 'bonny blue' eyes vividly...the missing airman is standing beside Doug in the other photo.
This is where they are buried - the churchyard of Old St Swithun's church, Old Weston, Huntingdonshire, deep in the rural landscape.
and here they are...oddly enough, Doug's mom came from Battle creek, Michigan. Probably yet another American/Canadian who wanted to do his bit, like so many others had done before him.
...and here we were, Doug's niece is in the front middle, with me and Mrs tac on each side of her...others are members of the Old Weston Historical Society and the local parish council.
The older gentleman with the stick was six years old at the time of the crash, and remembered it well - the flames, he said, were over a hundred feet high in the night sky.
The RAF suffered horrendous casualties between September 1939 and the end of hostilities in Europe in May of 1945, but it was Bomber Command that suffered most of all. Over fifty-five thousand young men from UK and the Dominions died, and over eleven thousand of them were Canadians.
Here are just four of them.
They had their tomorrows taken away by a cruel fate, so that we could have our todays.
Remember them.
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