大象传媒

When I was married in 1943 my husband was in the RAF serving in Bomber Command flying in Lancaster bombs.
A few months after the wedding he wrote to say he would be getting leave. Several days went by - I had no more news and then when I arrived home one evening there was a telegram saying he had been killed in action over Germany
My mother slept in my room that night because of all the trauma and soon after midnight there was a knock on the front door. My father went downstairs to see who the caller was. Suddenly the whole house was in an uproar - my mother and I rushed to see what was happening and to our amazement there stood my husband. Of course he didn't know that he was supposed to be dead until we told him.
Later we learned that his plane had been attacked over Germany and was hit by cannon shells and had caught fire. While he was at the rear of the place trying to quell the flames the pilot had given the order for crew to bail out. My husband never heard the order and was surprised when he returned to the front of the plane to find the pilot was the only member of the crew still there. The pilot said he wanted to fly the plane back to Britain.
My husband returned to the rear and saw that the main turret was on fire with the rear gunner still inside. He dragged him away from the flames hoping to save him but he was already dead. He then put out the fire and helped the pilot by navigating a course over Germany into Belgium where they landed on an American aerodrome. The Americans heard the plane to be in distress so they switched on the runway lights which was a brave thing to do with so many enemy planes in the area.
When the plane was searched a 1,000pound bomb was found wedged in the bomb bay. My husband's hands were burnt but otherwise he was unhurt. He received the Distinguished Flying Medal for his bravery and the pilot was given the Distinguished Flying Cross. The rest of the crew were captured and taken prisoners and released at the end of the war.
This is a story that Beatrice's daughter will cherish as Beatrice passed away last year.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.