RAF Bomber Command Memorial: After 67 years, the sacrifice of 55,000 airmen is honoured

London Telegraph ^ | 06-28-2012 | Neil Tweedie, and Gordon Rayner

[Captain Peter Blood]

RAF Bomber Command Memorial: After 67 years, the sacrifice of 55,000 airmen is honoured They had waited 67 years for this moment to arrive, and when it finally came, none tried to mask their emotions.

[Captain Peter Blood]

On a day when we are disturbed about the latest Supreme Court Ruling here we have a story about honoring W.W. II's RAF Bomber Command led by Air Marshal Arthur Travers Harris.

[dfwgator]

Thank God for such men.

[BO Stinkss]

“55,000 airmen is honoured “

Ya spelled honored wrong, Cap’n Peter.

[DuncanWaring]

Britspell.

[Joe 6-pack]

Just today, in the little old Louisiana town of Maurice, Louisiana,(Pop. 642) the French Ambassador to the US showed up to present the Chevalier de la legion d'honneur to a local Cajun who had served as a B-17 crewman...

French ambassador to US to visit Lafayette

It may seem like a small gesture from an inconsistent ally, but sometimes, like a precious gem, such things can be sublime in their slightness.

[iowamark]

Some 800 former members of Bomber Command attended, of the between 3000 and 4000 who survive. They are the lucky few from a force of 128,000 men, 60 per cent of whom were killed, wounded or taken prisoner.

Incredible bravery.

[iowamark]

[jmacusa]

“Bomber’’ Harris. Good show RAF, giving it back to Jerry. 55,000 men lost is a lot. That’s fifteen thousand more than the Luftwaffe killed during the Blitz. During the air war over Europe the USAAF lost 77,000.

[BenLurkin]

They certainly did a thorough job of barbecuing tens of thousands of women and children.

[Bringbackthedraft]

That’s fifteen thousand more than the Luftwaffe killed during the Blitz. During the air war over Europe the USAAF lost 77,000.

Between February 13th and February 14th 1945, between 35,000 and 135,000 people were killed by Allied bombing in Dresden. I guess Harris got his revenge for the Blitz many times over. Did he hate the Germans so much? And they say it was a show of force to impress Stalin so he would keep his end of the Yalta agreement? I visited Dresden, its a beautiful city around where they flattened the church. They rebuilt much of it to look like it was before the bombing. I hope none of our cities ever experience that kind of bombing.

[Flag_This]

"They certainly did a thorough job of barbecuing tens of thousands of women and children."

The RAF were pikers in that department compared to the poor germans.

[Notary Sojac]

Here's to you, Marshal Harris and all your brave aircrew!!

One of the few black marks on the character of Churchill is the way in which he dropped Bomber Command like a hot potato after the war, refusing to recognize them with a memorial or campaign medal.

[dfwgator]

They certainly did a thorough job of barbecuing tens of thousands of women and children.

[Notary Sojac]

thorough job of barbecuing tens of thousands

All of whom were only too delighted to strew flowers in der Fuhrer's path while the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS were murdering their way though Poland, France, and Russia.

Pardon me if I fail to cry myself to sleep, OK??

[dfwgator]

I visited Dresden, its a beautiful city around where they flattened the church.

Look at what the Germans did to one of the most beautiful pre-war cities in Europe. Warsaw - City of Ruins They did most of the damage towards the end of the war, a whole 5 years after Poland was already defeated. So don't ask me to shed any tears over Dresden.

[Notary Sojac]

That picture is the most eloquent possible response to an outrageous a$$hat post. Well done.

[central_va]

IBTZ

[BenLurkin]

I didn’t say thAt they didn’t have it coming to them.

Hopefully we will see more women and children immolated soon...so long as it is the right ones who are torched.

Can I get an amen?

[tanknetter]

They certainly did a thorough job of barbecuing tens of thousands of women and children.

[BenLurkin]

See post 14

[dfwgator]

They rebuilt much of it to look like it was before the bombing.

Warsaw didn't have that luxury, it was rebuilt in Uncle Joe's image.

[Notary Sojac]

You’re only waist deep, loser.... keep digging.

[BenLurkin]

Make up your mind...did the Krauts deserve it or not?

[Notary Sojac]

It was unfortunate that millions of civilians died in the bombings of Germany and Japan.

Had there been a way to end the war equally quickly without those deaths, that would of course have been preferable.

But by supporting their vile "leaders" to the bitter end, the civilian populations brought their own doom upon themselves.

[BenLurkin]

Agreed.

[tanknetter]

You ever watch "Band of Brothers" in its entirety? In one of the later episodes there's a great juxtaposition of two scenes. In the first scene (early in the episode), Capt. Nixon - having run out of scotch - is rummaging through a German house and is confronted by an up-tight and decidedly holier than thou German Officer's Widow.

In the second one (later in the episode) Nix and the widow again run into each other ... as she's stumbling around being forced to move corpses into burial pits at the local concentration camp.

Hitler and the Nazis were elected, their rise to power was supported by an all-too-willing German population swooning over smartly tailored uniforms, goose-stepping, charismatic oratory, Oompah-Bands playing nationalistic tunes and a fervent hatred of the evil JOOOOOOOOS ... and all too willing to look the other way when it came to rail-cars, smokestacks and somewhat pungent smells arising from just over the next hill.

My grandfather was part of a force that liberated one of those camps. So excuse me if I don't have much sympathy for the women Bomber Command "barbequed". I do have sympathy for the innocent children, but am very much of the opinion that their blood is on the hands of their parents and elders ... not Bomber Harris and his airmen.

[dfwgator]

Hitler and the Nazis were elected,

Not true. In fact in the last election Hitler ran in 1932, the Nazis were routed and lost seats....but Franz von Papen, trying to get back at his rival Von Schleicher, appointed Hitler as Chancellor, thinking that he could be controlled, from there, behind the scenes Hitler and the Nazis engineered a coup.

[C19fan]

There is a nice audio podcast by an amateur historian Dan Carlin on his website about the whole sliding into the abyss when it came to bombing of cities. He titled it “Logical Insanity”. The Germans “broke the ice” when they bombed London with their Zeppelins and Gotha bombers during the Great War and opened up that can of worms again with Guernica.

[DuncanWaring]

What should they have done instead?

[jmacusa]

Warsaw was a beautiful city. So was Rotterdam and Coventry. Germany and it’s people deliberately and cold-bloodedly provoked a war with the war and reaped the whirlwind. Did Hitler and the German people hate Jews so much as to murder six million of them? Too damn bad for Germany.

[Captain Peter Blood]

That was from the London Telegragh and that is the way they spell that in England.

[Captain Peter Blood]

What about all those killed during the Blitz and V2 rocket attacks on England by Germany???? There were dirty parts of that war in Europe but trying to use revisionist history does not work here.

[BO Stinkss]

Just yankin’ your cain Captian. No offense intended. Thanks for posting the article.

[what's up]

Did he hate the Germans so much?

I would say it was the Germans who hated all of Europe.

Do people over-react when their countries, families and way of life have been under assault for years and millions have died needlessly? Who can blame them?