The lives lost and the extraordinary risks taken by the painfully young pilots of Bomber Command during the air-offensive against Germany from 1940-1945, is a great example of the commoner voice at work in our society.
The importance of the individual’s voice and how powerful it is. The personal letters and notes between the wing of the RAAF’s celebrated Bomber Boys tells us a story of the extraordinary lives of the airmen that passed through Bomber Command during the Second World War.
Those letters and notes changed much of the official narrative. The ‘Bomber Boys’ were engaged in a form of warfare that had never been implemented before and would never be again. Even the B52’s of the cold war didn’t live through anything as dire as the Bomber Boys. Between 1940 and 1945 they flew continuously, stopping only when weather made operations impossible.
For much of that time they were the only fighters capable of attacking Germany in its own territory. There was nothing romantic about their struggle. Often barely out of boyhood, they lived on bleak bases, flying at night on long, nerve-racking missions that often ended in death. The odds of surviving were stacked heavily against them. In all, 55,000 were killed, counting for nearly one in ten of all the British and Commonwealth war dead.
Their letters and journals captured the character, beliefs, fears and motivations of these airmen, and honors their heroism and tenacity. Despite their incredible sacrifices, the Bomber Boys have barely remained on the edges of our collective memory, while their actions have been the subject of controversy that continues to the present.
As a society we cannot let this moment in history pass unchallenged or be unclear.
The commoners voice must be heard.