Victory
In Europe
 | | •
William Jones |
East Devon remembered
the historic date of May 8, 1945, the date of the Nazi forces’ surrender,
which marked the end of the Second World War in Europe. Church services and events
were held across the district, the biggest in Honiton, where the Homefront event
attracted hundreds of spectators, who watched battle re-enactments, musical performances
of wartime tunes, and a flypast by an Auster aeroplane.
The Midweek Herald
recalls the memories of Edward Jones, a former RAF air gunner.
His memories
are personal, but stand as a tribute to the thousands of his comrades, many known
and loved by families here, who fell in the cause of freedom. William
Jones from Snowdrop Close, Honiton, was a Lancaster gunner in the RAF’s 75
New Zealand Squadron between 1941 and 1945.
About 3,000 Lancasters were
shot down over Germany in total. “It was nail biting stuff,” William
remembers.
“Every time you took off, you were never sure if you’d
see home again.”
Bomber Command’s role was to attack the enemy’s
own military strength. It aimed to disrupt production of weapons, wear down morale
and to force the Germans into having to defend a wide geographical area.
William
took part in about 20 raids, and to this day remembers where he was on VE Day.
“I
was on leave in Liverpool, everyone went mad. I rode with my father to Liverpool
by motorbike to see how they were receiving it. Everyone was elated and crashing
down blind drunk. We were all so relieved.”
 | | •
MY TEAM: Rear gunner William Jones with members of 75 Squadron, RAF, during the
war. |
Before the elation, though, came the final days
and weeks of intense combat.
There was relentless bombing, with runs every
night and he was fortunate never to be hit.
“If you were injured,
it was usually curtains,” he said. “The Germans had vertical cannons
mounted on top of their planes that would fly underneath ours and rip them to
pieces.”
He had several hair-raising moments during raids over
Germany. “On various occasions our plane was caught in a dozen German searchlights.
“We were blinded, and felt completely exposed, as if all of their
guns would be pointing towards us. What they were actually after, by spotting
our plane, was to plot our speed and direction, so they could figure out where
the rest of our squadron was."
After the end of the war in Europe,
William continued to fly to Germany, to bring back British prisoners of war.
“We
would fly 27 men back at a time. The British POWs would wave to us as we arrived.
He also took part in the ‘Baedeker’ runs after the war, flying 200 feet
over Belgium, Holland and Germany to get a good view of all the damage.
“Believe
me, it’s almost impossible to describe the scene, or to understand what it
was like. The destruction was colossal.”
There were good moments too,
as William recalls: “When we flew over The Hague, all the roof-tops were
packed with people waving Union flags. This gave us a feeling of great elation.
The people were so grateful to us for having helped to bring the German occupation
of their country to an end.”
He is now supporting the Royal British
Legion’s Nation’s Biggest Thank-you campaign, which aims to recognise
and thank old soldiers, sailors and airmen who fought for freedom 60 years ago.
 | Have
your say in the forums! >> |
•
Back to Devon history >> |