From my friend Charles Walgrave: RAF Bomber Command lost 55,573 lives in WWII average age 22, And till this day have No Memorial in the UK but that will change. http://www.rafbombercommand.com/ Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees and Jim Dooley of the 70/80 pop group the Dooley's are great supporters to get one made in Green park London planning permission has been approved and the design, now its the Cost and that ware you can help. They need to be remembered and not forgotten. http://www.theygaveeverything.co.uk/ It will be opened by HM The Queen in NOV 2011 before the Olympics in 2012. In April/May 2010 some of the last Surviving Veterans was in Holland to get support for it and celebrate 65 years end of WWII. I was with them and made some photo's and will be placing them on her. This one was made 01 May 2010 at a crash museum in Aalsmeer. L - R Sqn Ldr Tony Iveson DFC ex Sgt BoB 617 Sqn, John Pledenderleith, Maurice Snowball,Jack Cook, David Fellows, Bernnie Harris ex Air Gunners, WO John Banfield MBE secretary RAF ex POW , Air Cdr C Clarke OBE President RAF ex POW ex Stalag Luft III, WO Stan Bradford DFM ex Air Gunner. Googel any of the names to find out more about the person and what they did to save Britain during our Darkest years of WWII and help free Europe from tyranny. Jim Dooley has made some photos and they are being sold to raise money for the Memorial. This is the website, look under Jim Dooley collection. http://www.artiquegallery.co.uk/index.php Shortly I will also be selling things for the memorial and will be placing it on her when I have the last details sorted out. I will be adding some more photos to her because with out these brave men the RAF would not be the best in the World and ware it is today. This is the facebook page for Support the Bomber Command Memorial. Support the Bomber Command Memorial! | Facebook
More news from the Facebook site: So, as part of our campaign to raise money for the memorial to honour the 55,573 men of Bomber Command who gave their lives in WWII, members of the public from around the world are being invited to donate £20 or more to have their personal messages and photographs placed in a time capsule. It will be buried within the foundations of the memorial, which is to be unveiled in late 2011, and will stand for 1000’s of years. The time capsule will also include the name, rank and serial number of all the members of RAF Bomber Command, as well as personal messages from key political figures and Commonwealth heads of state. During the construction of the memorial in London’s Green Park, a protective pipe will secure a tunnel within the foundations, allowing the time capsule to be placed there just before the final unveiling of the memorial. All those who have already donated to the memorial, and whose contact details are available to the Bomber Command Association (the organisation behind the memorial), will also be able to place messages within the time capsule. Donations can be made, and pictures and messages uploaded via www.bombercommand.com/timecapsule. I hope you all agree that this is a great way to not only raise money, but allow all the people who do to become part of the memorial for ever.
Very good, from what I have heard there will also be a limited edition of about 30 photographs for sale signed by Air Commodore Clarke OBE. Unfortunately I have no details about this yet... Ron
This is a copy of a post I made on the thread about the raids on Dresden. I post it here, respectfully, as a request for people to consider the far-reaching implications of the proposed memorial: My Dad, navigator Flt Lt John Charles Davies RAFVR, flew in Halifaxes with 102 Squadron from Pocklington and bombed Chemnitz on the night after the raid on Dresden (i.e. 15 February 1945). He flew a modest total of 13 operations in Halifaxes and passed away on 20 January this year aged 86. My parents grew up (as I did) in Coventry and, as teenagers, endured the raids that destroyed the city in November 1940, April 1941 and other nights. So Dad had first hand experience of heavy aerial bombardment as both receiver and deliverer. Dad always told me that war is a filthy, dirty business. He also brought me up to believe in peaceful reconcilation. The twinned cities of Dresden and Coventry, in particular their respective cathedral churches, both stand for international peace and reconciliation. I stand in awe of what the 56,000 Bomber Command aircrew who failed to return did for their country and for freedom. But although Dad, as a survivor, was disappointed at first not to receive a campaign medal for his service in Bomber Command, he believed the proposed memorial for Bomber Command dead would now be far too late. As is shown in these posts, the rights and wrongs of area bombing are still passionately debated and feelings still run high. So for the sake of the future, and for the children of Coventry and of Dresden and of all other victims of war, I ask that we remember those who served their country, those who 'struck hard and struck sure', quietly and respectfully, and with sensitivity.
The Daily Express is now getting in on the act: Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: Daily Express Crusade: Its time to honour Bomber Command heroes
Oggie2620, How many websites are taking donations? I made a donation on Sept 8th to JustGiving. Over 9900 Canadian Aircrew who served in either the RCAF or RAF did not come back. Cheers from Canada
Oggie2620, How many websites are taking donations? I made a donation on Sept 8th to JustGiving. Over 9900 Canadian Aircrew who served in either the RCAF or RAF did not come back. Cheers from Canada I think they link into the Bomber Command Memorial site. Its to try and get those people who wouldnt normally look at sites like this but would be supportive... Generous people like you can carry on doing the good work you do.... By the way if anyone wants to buy some cards that donate to either the above or help for heroes try Aviation Greetings Cards and Aviation Christmas Cards and look for Stephen Browns signed cards... Some of them are suitable for Christmas but the others would be fine for any time of the year.... Dee
Dee Thanks for the update. It is a very worthy cause. Randy Yes, a very worthy cause indeed. Regards Tom
...By the way if anyone wants to buy some cards that donate to either the above or help for heroes try Aviation Greetings Cards and Aviation Christmas Cards and look for Stephen Browns signed cards... Some of them are suitable for Christmas but the others would be fine for any time of the year.... Dee An excellent site Oggie and well recomended. I can see where the family will be getting their cards from!
Chaz has been busy again and now has a new way of raising funds. Please see YouTube - RAF Bomber Command Memorial for more information. I hope to be getting some when I go to Holland in November though I think they will sell like hotcakes! Sorry to be so cryptic but I want you to go see! LOL Dee
slaphead n excellent site Oggie and well recomended. I can see where the family will be getting their cards from! Ordered some this evening , an excellent choice , thank you for the link. IOU rep.
Chaz will be glad to hear from you. Its taken him and Barrie some heartache to get it off the ground... Dee
Some enlightened folks in Alberta got it right! Bomber Command Museum, Nanton, Alberta The successes of Bomber Command were purchased at terrible cost. Of every 100 airmen who joined Bomber Command, 45 were killed, 6 were seriously wounded, 8 became Prisoners of War, and only 41 escaped unscathed (at least physically). Of the 120,000 who served, 55,573 were killed including over 10,000 Canadians. Of those who were flying at the beginning of the war, only ten percent survived. It is a loss rate comparable only to the worst slaughter of the First World War trenches. Only the Nazi U-Boat force suffered a higher casualty rate.
I will support the memorial but it is about time that the Bomber crews from North Africa and Italy who also gave their lives for the noble cause should have their names honoured. Tomed.
.................a letter a Dutch housewife sent to the RAF when the war was over. During the occupation of her homeland by the Nazis, she wrote, "the throb of your bombers overhead at night sounded like music in our ears. It was an anchor to which we clung in the dark days". Brave? They were scared witless. What made them heroes was defying that fear, raid after terrifying raid | Daily Mail Online
