Never has so much been owed by so many to so few
The title is a shortened version of a wonderful quote by Sir Winston Churchill to recognize the efforts of the RAF during the “Battle Britain”. I was reminded of this yesterday when I read my daily e-mail from The Scotsman newspaper which provides me with a brief summary of a few headline stories plus “Fact of the Day”.
Fact of the Day reads:- This date in 1940 is generally seen as the end of the “Battle of Britain” as the RAF defeated the Luftwaffe and achieved dominance of the skies. The contribution of foreign fliers was significant; of the 2,353 men credited with fighting the battle, 574 were not British. The largest foreign contingent was from Poland, without whom the outcome of the battle may well have been very different
Reading yesterday’s “Fact of the Day” flooded me with memories of that time. Yes, I am old enough to remember World War II but was not old enough to be in the armed forces.
It was at 11:00 AM on Sunday, September 3rd, 1939 that the minister announced from the pulpit that Britain was now at war. I was not fully aware of the impact of that announcement.
From then until the end of October 1940, my memories are of wonderfully sunny summer days; looking up and watching the dog fights in the sky. In the evening, came the air raid sirens, the drone of the enemy bombers as they headed to the shipyards at Clydebank and the rumble of the ground as the bombs exploded.
To this day, the sound of air raid sirens stir me; but not in a pleasant way.
