The Secret Memoir
Like many boys growing up in the 50s and 60s, I knew that my Father had served in the armed forces in WWII. When I asked him what he had done, he modestly told me that he had flown on Stirlings and Lancasters with Bomber Command. He would only talk of the light-hearted times, and refused to talk about Op’s etc.
When I was about 7 I found his RAF officers uniform in my parents bedroom, and also a beautiful medal in it’s presentation box (along with a typed note from Buckingham palace “signed” by someone called George R).
Dad wouldn’t talk about the medal, but he told me it was a Distinguished Flying Cross, and George R was King George VI.
Dad remained silent about his war years and died on 4th January 2004, aged 82.
The following day, whilst going through his personal papers, which he kept in an old wartime suitcase, I came across a small notebook which would unlock his wartime story.
It would seem that he wrote a secret memoir some fifty years after the War, late at night when he was alone. In it, he doesn’t explain what prompted him to put pen to paper. Was it to exorcise his demons, or did he mean me to find it and read the things he couldn’t bring himself to tell me? I will never know.
It was very difficult reading the memories of my wonderful, modest, loving Father so soon after his death; but I couldn’t put the book down.
It told how he had watched in horror as his home city of Birmingham was bombed, and his desperate frustration of being too young to “join up”
When old enough he joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve and was selected for Flight Engineer Training.
He joined his crew on 622 Squadron in early summer 1943. They carried out 11 Op’s (crashing on return from a Berlin trip) before being selected for Pathfinder training, and subsequently joining 7 Squadron PFF.
In all, the crew completed 64 Op’s together (5 as Master Bomber) before being declared “Op’s expired” and going their separate ways in September 1944.
I learned that Dad had suffered terrible air sickness for his first 300 flying hours, but persevered. The Ground Crew gave him an empty biscuit tin so he wouldn’t make a mess of their aircraft.
His memoir was liberally peppered with many, many sad stories, and the names of his young friends and colleagues who had perished in the skies over war torn Europe. There were also recollections of terrible things he had witnessed and could never erase from his mind. He was, however, very proud to have served with Bomber Command, and especially of being a Pathfinder.
I spent five years researching my Dad’s crew (known as “The Lucky Crew” whilst serving with 7 Squadron at RAF Oakington) and was pleased to discover they all survived the war and returned to a normal life in England, Australia, and New Zealand.
My Father’s secret memoir is one of the reasons why I became a volunteer with the IBCC, and subsequently joined the staff. It’s a great honour and privilege to preserve the memories of those who had to endure the bombing war on all sides of the conflict, and to share their stories with the world.
An excerpt from the original memoir
Tom Jones DFC. 19th April 1921 – 4th January 2004
To read Tom’s log book please click here