大象传媒

On a bitterly cold morning of 16 January 1943, with snow more than a foot deep in places, my mother took me and my baby sister on a bus ride
from Lincoln to the main gate of RAF Waddington.

She had spoken to my Dad on the 'phone and arranged to meet him purely because she missed him so much since he had voluntarily joined the RAF. He had joined up after watching an aerial dog fight over Clapham Common, London.

I remember my Dad cycling down the drive on an old bicycle wearing his flying suit having been
or about to be briefed for that night's operation. He seemed to have a heated conversation with a Sergeant at the Guardhouse
before coming to us for about fifteen minutes.
Because I was so cold he put his flying jacket round my shoulders (I still have the jacket as my most valuable possession). It was a tearful
goodbye when he left.

Returning to Monson St., Lincoln, we had tea and in the twilight, my Uncle and Aunt,mother and me stood in the little garden as the crescendo of aircraft engines increased overhead. One of the Lancasters flew directly
above us and the wings dipped slightly left and right. "Andy always does that on the way out, if he can. "They are off to Berlin now", my Uncle told me. He worked for the GPO and always seemed to know what was going on.

Lancaster W 4379, 5 Group, 9 Squadron failed to return from Berlin that night. Sergeants A.G.Carswell,RCAF (Pilot): C.E.Clemens, RCAF (R/AG): J.W.Martin, RAF (F/Eng): H.C.Hipson,RAF (Bm/A): E.J.Phillips, RAF, (WT/OP) survived the POW camps and forced march from Germany to Poland as the war ended.

Sergeants J.E.Galbraith,RCAF (Nav) and JHW de Silva RAF (MU/AG), my father, died and and are buried close to each other in Berlin.

My mother spent over twenty five years in a
psychiatric hospital after receiving the telegram informing her my father was missing,presumed killed. My sister and me were
raised by loving Grandparents.

I have many,many memories of WW2, this is one that stands out foremost.

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