The 'Infamous' Dam Busters.

[klondike]

My father was an aircraft fitter and spent a lot of the war in Africa. He volunteered for Bomber Command. He wanted to be a navigator but all they could offer was air gunner. His then CO persuaded him that he was more use where he was so he didn't accept the air gunner offer. I suspect that had it gone the other way there would have been no klondike as the attrition rate was awful in Bomber Command.

[Michael Rolls]

Percentage per head, the highest rate of attrition in any of the UK's armed forces

[Cassandra]

Yet no medal for 'Bomber Command'. The Grandfathers of Woke were at it even then. I love the cynical hypocrisy of Politicians. They create the policy to bomb the hun and then refuse to honour the brave men their decisions killed.

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.

And still no medal! Why, why should we be ashamed at merely returning to Hitler what he started. History will certainly be re-written once the bloody Woke have strangled the UK to death ...

Arthur Travers (Bomber) Harris got it dead right here ...

[Michael Rolls]

I think that it is shameful that there is no medal for BC. A late colleague of mine was a navigator of Lancs and survived purely by chance - it was a daylight raid and he was on a day's leave but swapped with someone so was on the raid instead of on the ground. He saw the plane in which he normally flew blown out of the air - no survivors.

[1955vintage]

Flt Sgt Peter Brown: Hundreds attend funeral of WW2 RAF airman - BBC News

Apparently, if they were Jamaican , they were heroes....

[Michael Rolls]

they were all heroes

[GrannyMac]

Flt Sgt Peter Brown: Hundreds attend funeral of WW2 RAF airman - BBC News

Apparently, if they were Jamaican , they were heroes....

Really? 

As Mike says they were all heroes. When a lot of British people say things about their fathers or other family members who fought in the war, they often don't include the contribution made by those like him.

He was 96. Died without any family here, and didn't ask for any fuss. People who knew him cared enough to have a memorial service for him. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11893667/Hunt-family-one-Pilots-Caribbean-died-London-flat-aged-96.html

[JBR]

I was unaware of the fact that members of Bomber Command were refused medals.
I can only assume that this was a political decision not to reward those who were on the attack (perhaps related to operations like Dresden), rather than defence.  
I find that disgusting and probably typical of the pen-pushers who decided that and who, needless to day, never had to risk their own lives as did the BC airmen.

[klondike]

Individuals got medals for specific acts of bravery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Gibson

Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson, VC, DSO & Bar, DFC* (12 August 1918 – 19 September 1944) was a distinguished bomber pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He was the first Commanding Officer of No. 617 Squadron, which he led in the "Dam Busters" raid in 1943, resulting in the breaching of two large dams in the Ruhr area of Germany. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces, in the aftermath of the raid in May 1943 and became the most highly decorated British serviceman at that time. He completed over 170 war operations before being killed in action at the age of 26.


There was no specific medal for everybody who was part of the campaign. This was belatedly remedied in 2013.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939%E2%80%931945_Star

On 8 July 1943, the 1939–43 Star (later named the 1939–1945 Star) and the Africa Star became the first two campaign stars instituted, and by May 1945 a total of eight stars and nine clasps had been established by the United Kingdom to reward campaign service during the Second World War. One more campaign star, the Arctic Star, and one more clasp, the Bomber Command Clasp, were belatedly added on 26 February 2013, more than sixty-seven years after the end of the war.

[Alex]

Flt Sgt Peter Brown: Hundreds attend funeral of WW2 RAF airman - BBC News

Apparently, if they were Jamaican , they were heroes....

A brave man, good to hear he had friends and caring neighbours, so he didn't die alone.

[Cassandra]

A brave man, good to hear he had friends and caring neighbours, so he didn't die alone.

Yes indeed Alex, so many unfortunately do, truly great men, lost in the vagrancies of time. The Americans are genuinely far more appreciative than we are towards their Ex servicemen. Back last year when at a delightful dinner, served upon my neighbours converted Tug-boat - our host proposed a toast to one of the fellow diners. He was a former Marine who'd won the 'Congressional Medal of Honour' in Vietnam. This is their equivalent to the V.C.

They also have very well funded and thriving support associations for all of this category who may have fallen on hard times. Some sadly choose lives of destitution and poverty, but are never allowed, if at all possible to pass unnoticed.

[Alex]

They do seem to treat their military better then we do, ex and serving.  No idea why they're not valued here in UK

[JBR]

They do seem to treat their military better then we do, ex and serving.  No idea why they've not valued here in UK

In many ways they certainly do, and our own servicemen deserve much better.

On the other hand, they do seem to overdo the issue of medals, looking at some of the American servicemen you see in pictures.  It's as if they give them a gong for going to the toilet successfully!  🤣

[1955vintage]

It's as if they give them a gong for going to the toilet successfully! 

As I get older, this appeals to me more.

[Michael Rolls]

In many ways they certainly do, and our own servicemen deserve much better.

On the other hand, they do seem to overdo the issue of medals, looking at some of the American servicemen you see in pictures.  It's as if they give them a gong for going to the toilet successfully!  🤣

quite apart from gallantry medals, the US forces have an enormous (by our standards) number of service medals awarded for serving somewhere, so an individual who has served for a reasonable period of time is likely to pick up a number of such awards simply for being somewhere. A late colleague (RAF with a DFC) rather scathingly referred to them as 'Sunday school attendance medals'!

May 27, 2023, 09:05:17 AM
out of idle curiosity, I looked up General (later President) Eisenhower. He was awarded 69 medals! Don't know if he ever wore them all at once, but there couldn't have been much room for uniform if he did!