| Last updated at 1:29 AM on 13/11/09 |
|
Charlotte Comrie, right, Rotary Club of Charlottetown president, welcomes Clifton Stewart, Island Veteran to the annual Remembrance Day program as Ivan Kerry, left, guest speaker looks on. Kerry spoke about the Bomber Command in the Second World War. Guardian photo |
|
|
Bomber Command veteran recalls raids conducted over Germany 
DOUG GALLANT
The Guardian
The importance of the contribution made by members of Bomber Command to the defeat of Nazi Germany during the Second World War cannot be overstated, members of the Charlottetown Rotary Club were told Monday.
Speaking during the club’s annual Remembrance Day program at the Delta Prince Edward, Air Force veteran Ivan Kerry said raids conducted by Bomber Command on tank factories, aircraft factories, railway hubs, munitions plants, oil depots and other strategic targets had a significant impact on Germany’s capacity to wage war.
Kerry, who served with Bomber Command as a tail gunner, recalled what it was like to fly missions over Germany, trying to remain focused on the mission at hand while facing heavy fire from German anti-aircraft batteries on the ground and fending off incessant attacks from German fighter aircraft.
The Port Perry, Ont. native spoke of the high price paid by members of Bomber Command during the war. Over 12,000 Bomber Command aircraft were shot down, resulting in the loss of 55,500 aircrew. Of that number more than 10,000 were Canadians.
Kerry, who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service with Bomber Command, said Germany’s home defences were formidable.
He noted the city of Berlin alone, was protected by some 7,000 anti-aircraft guns and as many as 3,000 searchlights which scanned the skies for bombers like his.
Kerry recalled the horror of seeing aircraft from his squadron go down, knowing that men he’d trained with and flown missions with, had made the ultimate sacrifice for the Allied cause.
He spoke with pride of the role members of Bomber Command played in thwarting Adolf Hitler’s plans to invade England, at one point recalling Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring’s promise to Hitler, thankfully unfulfilled, that he would extinguish the RAF in two weeks, clearing the way for a full-fledged invasion.
He also referenced a much-repeated quote by British wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, delivered during an address to the Canadian House of Commons in December of 1941.
On that occasion Churchill noted that after being told England would fight on alone no matter what France chose to do, some French generals told their prime minister and his divided cabinet that in three weeks England would have her “neck wrung like a chicken.”
Churchill’s then uttered the following classic line: “Some chicken! Some Neck.”
Kerry said the mission of Bomber Command was not an easy one, particularly after Germany began to move some of its key armament factories underground but they were determined to do their job and did it.
He noted there has been criticism of Bomber Command by some post-war authors and by some media over civilian losses during air raids over Germany but said in war civilians do die.
He suggested that if those civilians were, for example, working in factories that produced the tools of war, casualties simply could not be avoided.
Noting there had been 40 attempts to kill Adolf Hitler during the war he questioned how many lives might have been saved on all sides, both civilian and military, if one of those attempts had been successful.
Monday’s Remembrance Day program was highlighted by the presentation of a special award to Second World War veteran Clifton Stewart for his exemplary military service.
Stewart, a radio communications specialist, was attached to a branch of the secret service called the British Security Coordination. That organization was set up by the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in May 1940 upon the direct authorization of Sir Winston Churchill.
Stewart, who received special training at Camp X in Ontario, saw service throughout the war, participating in a number of key missions.
A feature article on Stewart will be published in The Guardian shortly.
|
9
