By: Keith Kappes
Columnist
Carter County Times
He was about 85 and his rough, calloused hands and his deeply tanned, crinkled face said he had worked hard all of his life as a farmer in the East Anglia region of England.
His family lived in the tiny village of Horham when World War II erupted, and he watched the construction of an airfield for use by U. S. B-17 bombers in the deadly, daylight bombing of German installations in Europe.
He remembered the friendly young Americans in the air crews who laughed so easily and were so generous with his family and other local citizens, especially the children.
He also recalled the intense pain and sadness of counting the big planes as they returned from missions and realizing that some crews did not survive. At 10 crewmen per plane, the body count at that airfield alone nearly reached 700 in the two years of bombing missions against the Nazi war machine.
He knew full well that the so-called “friendly invasion” by the Yankee airmen in 1943 literally saved England from defeat. He was active in one of the many local groups that sponsor reunions for the U. S. veterans and their families and have done so since the war ended in 1945.
He developed a special friendship with a former B-17 pilot, now 99, who was based at Horham. When they saw each other last spring at one of the gatherings in England, they hugged each other tightly as tears flowed freely. No words were necessary.
Today, these two ailing but devoted friends are trying to stay alive for the 2024 reunion to be held in Utah in June in the hometown of the old pilot.
They told each other last spring that they would greet each other again in the U. S., just like the famous World War II song, “We’ll Meet Again”, which British service members sang with their families as they deployed to war zones.
We Americans, like our British cousins do so well, must never forget the sacrifices of those who served in all of our conflicts.
Contact Keith at keithkappes@gmail.com,
