Two close pilot friends of my father, killed during WW2, are highlighted in Blighty Thank God.
Other names are mentioned – but their stories are particularly poignant and highlight why Remembrance Day is so important.
Both were just doing a job. Neither was on the fighting front line, but were thousands of miles from their homes and families.
Flt. Sgt James Eden from Goosnargh, Lancs (pictured right) took off in an American fighter plane from a base in Egypt, but got into trouble and spun into the ground. He was killed instantly. He was aged 26, married and with a 13-month baby girl.
Flt Sgt John Creighton from Scotforth, Lancs (pictured left) returning to flying duties after being on sick leave. He was a passenger on a BOAC flight landing at Khartoum airport. Everyone on board was killed. He was aged 25. His pilot brother had also been killed just months earlier.
When I managed to speak with Jimmy’s daughter, now in her 80s, she said: “My sense of loss and curiosity about my father has been with me constantly.”
John’s parents lost both their children in under a year – a pain that must have remained with them.
Both Jim and John’s deaths are a reminder that the affects of the war lasted a lifetime for their loved ones.