My Dad was definitely the gallant war hero, and as a good friend of mine once said to me, “I can tell that your Dad really lived through the intensity of war, because he doesn’t want to talk about it. The guys that brag about what a great experience war was for them, are oftentimes just lying, because once you’ve lived through the horror of war, you definitely don’t want to talk about it.”

And my Dad was definitely that kind of guy. You kind of had to gingerly ask him questions about his experience during World War II, to get him to talk about it.

He was a pilot for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during that War, he flew 101 missions, and he flew the legendary aircraft, the Spitfire, as well as having flown other aircraft during the War, too.

But it was his final mission that he will be most remembered for, which upon its completion then had the RAF immediately retire him from service, and he received a very prestigious honor and medal for this mission from King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II.

This mission began on a night back in February of 1945, and he was piloting the mission inside of a Wellington bomber, along with his two crew members, when suddenly one of the plane’s engines caught on fire, and he quickly had to search for a place where he could do a hard landing on the ground, at nighttime, with the plane.

He saw a location surrounded by trees, then he hard-landed the plane, exited the plane and ran clear of it, and then he suddenly heard the screams of his two crew members, who had fractured pelvises from the hard landing, and they couldn’t move to get themselves out of the plane.

So my Dad then ran back into the burning plane, which had become completely engulfed in flames, to rescue those two crew members, and save their lives, making two individual trips back into the burning plane to do it.

So I have to believe that even today, as we speak, that there are grandchildren and great grandchildren who have been born, and who have lived their lives, because of what he did  that night.

For this act, he was awarded the MBE by King George VI, which means he was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, which is one step along the path to becoming Knighted.

So on this special day, I salute my Dad, who not only was a great father to me, and a great friend, but he was a true war hero, too.

Then, after the War, my Dad returned home to spend time with his beautiful bride.😊

Jim and Veronica Gillespie

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