IWM Oral History – They Were There – Blood, Toil, Tears & Sweat

30 August 2020

REID, William I (#61)

Flight Lieutenant William I REID VC Recipient of the Victoria Cross. AFVR Scot in hit LANCASTER 3NOV43, twice attacked, with dead Navigator and fatally wounded WIRELESS OPERATOR, stuck to course, bombed target & returned to base semi-conscious.

30 August 2020

LLOYD-OWEN, David (#273)

Major-General David LLOYD-OWEN CB DSO OBE MC “Danger has some kind of satanic appeal to me. I am drawn towards it in an octopus-like grip of fear.” (Telegraph) Queen’s Royal Reg’t N AFRICA & 1941 LONG RANGE DESERT GROUP (OC) 1943-45 wounds Kufra, LRDG base, LEROS & ops Corfu, Yugoslavia & Albania (bks). “Despite being in continual pain, Lloyd Owen directed special forces operations in the mountains for the next three months. Eventually he was evacuated to Italy, was successfully operated on, and told not to return to his former activities. He managed to bluff his way past a medical board and returned to Albania, although this time by boat.” (Wikipedia). “A man of great charm…a courageous soldier and a remarkable leader of men.” (Guardian).

29 August 2020

CALVERT, J Michael (#152)

“Frequently leading attacks from the front, earning him the nickname ‘Mad Mike’, Calvert was ‘a tremendous leader of men; quite careless of his own danger” “MICHAEL CALVERT, who survived both the Chindit expeditions into Burma, was […]

29 August 2020

WINSKILL, AL (#208)

Air Commodore Sir AL ‘Archie’ WINSKILL KCVO DFC* AE: 603 SQN,1st via PAT O’LEARY LINE to SPAIN/GIBRALTAR. led 232 Sqn to N.AFRICA, CFI CGS, OC 17 SQN Japan Representing ESCAPE NETWORKS

29 August 2020

LAFONT, Henri Lucien (#160)

Colonel Henri Lucien LAFONT Cdr Légion d’Honneur, Comp. de la Libération, G.Off de l’Ordre de Mérite, Croix de Guerre Dramatically escaped Vichy-held Algeria for England, flew HURRICANES, one of 13 French pilots in the BATTLE of BRITAIN. 1938-65 L’Armée de l’Air & RAF 245, 615, 341 Alsace Sqns. In memory of his friends Commandant René MOUCHOTTE, Bernard DUPÉRIER, and some 300 FRENCH pilots killed in the war.

29 August 2020

GRANDY, John (#2)

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Grandy, GCB, GCVO, KBE, DSO, KStJ (8 February 1913 – 2 January 2004) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He was the only officer who fought and commanded a squadron during the Battle of Britain to reach the post of Chief of the Air Staff.

29 August 2020

GILLAM, Denys (#25)

Group Captain Denys GILLAM DSO** DFC* AFC (8 e/a) RAF Fighter Pilot Ace. 29, 616, 312, OC 306 & 615 Sqns & 146 Wg Ldr & Hurricane flakship buster, with fastest enemy a/c victory on take-off from Speke (Ju88); Typhoons & 2TAF

29 August 2020

DRAKE, Billy (#168)

Group Captain Billy DRAKE DSO DFC* (20 e/a) No. 1(F) Sqn HURRICANES in FRANCE, 213 Sqn, 421 Flight BATTLE of BRITAIN, SPITFIRE FR, OC 112 Sqn KITTYHAWKS WESTERN DESERT, Wing Ldr MALTA, then 20 WG TYPHOONS and at SHAEF HQ