大象传媒

My grandfather Dave Cleary and great-uncle Len Such were both Path Finders flying Halifaxes during the war. Dave was a wireless operator and Len a machine gunner. They were based at Gravely (35 squadron). On the 23 August 1943, after 27陆 raids they were shot down over Berlin. Miraculously all 7 crew members survived. Dave was 21 years old. I never knew either of them and they left no detailed accounts of their war time experiences so I can鈥檛 relate a joined up story. What I do have however is my grandfather鈥檚 war diary which has the most surprising mementos. Amongst them a bit of burnt parachute, a couple of bits of 鈥渨indow鈥� (I think), a photo of Hitler (found on a dead German shot by the 鈥榣iberating鈥� Russians), fake documents, newspaper clippings, letters, posters, badges, poems, sketches, POW play programmes. There are a lot of stories here that are lost forever but on the other hand many that have been preserved because he had the presence of mind to document his war experience.
After being liberated Dave eventually made it back to England and married Len鈥檚 sister.

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