When Ron Chapman left St.Albans school in 1937, he could hardly have suspected that just five years later he would be piloting warplanes in the Middle East, part of the heroic fight against Nazi Germany.
Much less being commemorated in the school’s magazine some eighty years later.
Now the school’s magazine Versa has posted an article about Neil Chapman’s family labour of love to remember his father, the ‘Blighty Thank God’ podcast.
Neil, who lives on Teesside, also attended St.Albans School and left in 1972.
Quoted in the article: Neil said: “My father was like so many young men in the RAF, reluctantly forced to be thousands of miles away from home and in many ways the podcast is a tribute to all those reluctant warriors who served.
“Even though my father wasn’t on the front line, to my surprise I discovered he was always in danger. Death – from accidents and horrible diseases – lurked like a ghost throughout the diary. Many he knew or worked alongside were killed in horrible circumstances.
“My father thought he’d never survive the War, hence the podcast title – words of relief he wrote in his pilot’s log book on making it back to the UK, having been posted overseas very early in the war.” he added.
All of Ron’s grandchildren played a part in the podcast, voicing extracts from his diary.
Neil has had a distinguished career in communications with ICI and BP – where in 2010 he was part of the company’s response to the Deepwater Horizon tragedy off the US Coast – before becoming a respected communications trainer and a partner in the Houston-based firm WPNT Communications.