LONDON – Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a new memorial for the Royal Air Force’s bomber command on Thursday, honouring tens of thousands of airmen – including Canadians – who died in World War II.
The massive bronze statue placed along the edge of London’s Green Park has been a long time coming. The bomber command had been omitted from earlier memorials, in part because many civilians in Europe died in the bombing raids.
But many high-profile supporters, including the late Bee Gee member Robin Gibb, had campaigned for the airmen. Many argued that the actions of the airmen – conducted in a time of war – honoured their country in equal measure to that of any other service.
Thousands of them came to the ceremony, nodding at the accounts of their missions as their medals glinted in the brilliant sunshine. The queen paused to speak with many of the men and their families, offering a smile and white gloved hand.
“It’s a wonderful thing… (I’m) probably going to cry…” says Ron Pritchard, a Canadian who served in the campaign and travelled to London to attend the ceremony.
Pritchard flew night-time bombing missions over Nazi-controlled Europe. It was the most perilous of duties, as more than 40 per cent of the aviators died.
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“It means everything to me because so many guys were killed,” he tells Global National‘s Sean Mallen.
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“This was a long time coming. (Former British Prime Minister Winston) Churchill didn’t mention it in his big victory speech… (he) left bomber command out of it,” recalls retired airman William Judge.
The fact it took decades to erect a tribute to such a long, crucial and costly campaign speaks to the historical debate over bomber command. Although the raids smashed Nazi war industries and infrastructure, civilians in cities were also hit and died in huge numbers.
Bomber command veteran Robert Bradley insists civilians were never intended targets. “We did not try to bomb them,” he told Global National‘s Shirlee Engel in Ottawa on Monday.
“We had a target, and as you know, you’re dropping bombs from 25,000 feet, you’re not going to hit that target all alone – it’s going to spread out a little bit.”
“We were never, never given a target for civilians… So it was just a coincidence things like that happen.”
Pritchard says, “I think there were a lot of things said about bomber command that weren’t nice or true. I think we did a terrific job during the war.”
The German city of Dresden, where 25,000 civilians died in bombing raids, initially objected to the memorial. But the objections were eased by the placing of an inscription commemorating all the lives lost in the bombings of 1939-45.
Heike Grossmann, spokeswoman for the mayor of Dresden, stressed the close relations between Britain and Germany now.
“The inscription is a further gesture of reconciliation between Britain and Germany,” Grossmann said.
“And the Commonwealth through the queen is saying, as far as (they’re) concerned, what these men did was heroic and made a major contribution to the end of the war,” remarks Toronto-based military historian David Bercuson.
Dudley Hannaford, 88, who came from Sydney, Australia for the service, described the ceremony as “absolutely wonderful.”
“It makes me think of release and victory,” he said. “I only played a very small part in that, but it is something to be very thankful for.”
The service was followed by a flyover of the Royal Air Force’s last flying Lancaster Bomber, which dropped more than 55,000 poppies in a message of remembrance for those who died – one for each who died in Bomber Command missions, 10,000 of whom were Canadian.
Forty-two Canadians were brought to London to join British and Commonwealth comrades in witnessing the dedication of the Bomber Command memorial.
Follow Sean on Twitter: @SMallenGlobal
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