大象传媒

This story has been added to the website by Eleanor Fell, on behalf of John Rogers, who has given his permission for his wartime memory to be added to the site and he understands the terms and conditions of the website.

I was born in Croydon, in 1921 and I was eighteen when the war started. I signed up immediately for the RAF, because I always wanted to be a pilot. In a matter of weeks I was boarding the Queen Mary ship 鈥� which had been stripped out to be a troop ship for the war 鈥� bound for South Africa. The journey across took about two week and we landed in Durban in South Africa. When we arrived at the port there was an opera singer singing at the top of her lungs to welcome us. I was sent over to Rhodesia (which is now Zimbabwe) where I did 6 months basic flying training. I stayed in a place called Guinea Fowl, a strange name, where we had private billets, 2 or 3 of us to a room,

Once I鈥檇 finished my training I returned home and I flew fighter planes in the war, and I finished off on bomber command. In 1941 I was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for flying the fighter planes and I shooting down two German bombers over London. I went to Buckingham Palace to receive my medal and while I was there the Queen Mother came up to me and said 鈥淚 suppose, young man, you鈥檒l be back having a gin and tonic in the mess tonight?鈥�
I replied 鈥淵es, I probably will鈥� and she whispered back 鈥淲ell, so shall I!鈥�

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