In my family's case, my Dad was with the RAF in England as a co-pilot in a Lancaster bomber
He told me that they would leave England every night at dusk and fly overnight to drop bombs on Germany and then head back. Their targets were factories, bridges, dams etc because their missions were to disrupt the country's infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities.
He was 22 years old at the time and lied about his age to enter the RAF (no computers back then)
At first light, he said that the German Messerschmitt fighters would come after them and try to blow out the gunners in the "bubbles" and shoot down their plane
My Dad said that the Germans often killed the gunners in the bubbles (it was a bad design) and the Lancaster often came back with one wheel or engine out of commission or with heavy damage but he always made it back somehow
Today I am 55 years old but when I was his age I was trying to borrow the car and impress girls and I can't imagine the guts that it took to fly into the darkness every night and try to get back before the first light
My Dad didn't want to talk about the war too much and after it ended he immigrated to Canada.
He passed on more than 10 years ago and I probably never told him how much I respected his courage but tomorrow I will be thinking about him
I can also tell stories of my family's participation in world war 1 too but that is for another day because those men didn't come back
Thank you to our veterans for all that the have done and continue to do for us
Lest we forget View attachment 15104
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