大象传媒

My grand-uncle, Joseph Gleeson, was born 23 March, 1909, in Limerick, Ireland. In 1943 he, and several of his Irish friends, was working in Redditch, Worcestershire, when they received military call-up papers. Believing that service in the Army, or the Navy, was too dangerous, Joseph and his friends joined the RAF and received training at Padgate, near Warrington, and at Cardington, in Bedfordshire.

Like many other Irish lads, Joseph was assigned the role of tail-gunner and was posted to 228 Squadron of the RAF's Coastal Command, which was stationed at Pembroke Dock in south-west Wales. Flying in Sunderland flying boats, and occasionally in American made PBY/Catalinas, uncle Joe patrolled the Bay of Biscay on anti-submarine sweeps and also flew up the Channel as far as Ostend searching for downed aircrew.

Coastal Command Sunderland's frequently tangled with Luftwaffe fighters (the Germans nicknamed the Sunderland's "Flying Porcupines" because of the strength of their defensive armament) and Joseph soon realised that the position of tail-gunner was anything but a safe profession. On several occasions he witnessed the remains of his tail-gunner comrades being literally hosed out of their aircraft after returning from a run-in with an enemy fighter.

Not all of Uncle Joe's wartime service with 228 Squadron involved flying missions. He and his colleagues were also assigned the less arduous task of guarding some 400 Italian prisoners of war and perhaps because he shared their Catholic religion Joseph was detailed to take them to Church each Sunday.

Joseph Gleeson served until the end of the war and after leaving the RAF he returned to his native Ireland.

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