WWII veteran Harry Irons describes his first bombing raid over Germany
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2024
- Harry Irons (January 1924 - November 2018) joined the RAF in 1940, by lying about his age. He served as a mid-upper gunner and later a rear gunner aboard Lancaster and Halifax bombers, in No. 9 Squadron and No. 158 Squadron. Here he describes his first bombing mission, which took place in September 1942, and involved bombing Düsseldorf. In total, Harry survived 60 missions over Europe, which resulted in him being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, at the end of the war.
I recorded this interview on the 30th July 2016, and would like to thank the International Bomber Command Centre for making this interview possible.
An Imperial War Museum interview with him can be found here:
www.iwm.org.uk/...
Harry is a miracle. People need to know his story!
When I was a kid, my neighbour would tell me his stories about being a navigator aboard the Sunderland aircraft (chasing Nazi subs & rescue missions of RAF boys).
I wish I wrote them all down.
RIP Mr Thompson. You were an AWESOME person!!
I had a fishing buddy,big Jim, he was a ball turret gunner same thing l remember a lot of what he told me. He told me my first dirty joke, 'what sound does a blond sea hair make just before it hits the deck?' Then he spat. 'You'll get it when your older'. His best stories were about the sea voyage back,the poker games were incredible...
@@graham2631 Hahahaha. How many times did I hear "You'll understand that in a few years time...poor bastard."
But, I avoided lots...
The sheer steel of these men is unbelievable. I wish that there were still WW2 veterans around in numbers. I want to talk to them...
It might be worth seeing if there are any museums near you which are hosting events that veterans are due to attend. For example, IWM Duxford seems to host them fairly regularly. Another such place is the Shoreham Aircraft Museum, which is where I met Tom Neil in 2016. Another way of meeting veterans is to contact local retirement homes and ask if any of the residents participated in WWII.
fighting-high-books.myshopify.com/pages/events
Contact your local VFW Post, I'm sure they can help your search but close to home.
If you get a chance to go to the WWII memorial in DC you might run into groups flown in by wings of freedom.
Yeah same goes for me
Thank you Harry. And thank you Thomas for uploading Harrys' memories.
You're welcome, more of his interview will be online soon. Also, feel free to check out his Imperial War Museum interview from 2005.
True
Thank you for giving us the benefit of your work and thank you to Mr Irons for sharing his story!
Hero. Plus he looks amazing for 92 years old
At the time of this interview, Harry was still a regular driver and he continued to drive his Mercedes for another two years.
To the two gutless wonders that gave this a thumbs down, don’t worry, someone else will always look after you.
Yes true
The only threat was from the Soviet Union.
Wonderful Interview!! Incredible modesty and honesty!
That's it. We hold those who served in such high esteem and they just say (words to the effect) I was just doing my job! Heroes, Nuff said.
Harry Irons. Thank you.
So many fascinating stories. Good stuff documenting this. Would be nice to see a couple Luftwaffe bomber pilots being interviewed and how they experienced bombing England.
At least, they would have no recalls, of SURVIVING downed crewmember's being murdered by British civilians, UNLIKE IN NAZI GERMANY, WERE DOZENS OF ALLIED AIR-CREW ,WHO PARACHUTED OUT OF BLAZING BOMBER'S, WERE BEATEN TO DEATH BY MOBS, OR LYNCHED.
Great interview. Interesting to hear that they were still climbing as they crossed the Frisian islands. That must’ve given them a lower groundspeed compared to flying level in cruise. Making an easier target for flak. Respect for doing this in all sort of weather conditions thru the heaviest defended airspace in the world at that time. There’s the Memphis Belle movie about the American day time offensive. Time we get a movie about the RAF doing it at night. Map of the Human Heart covers some of it.
Look for the movie *Target for Tonight* because that is an RAF Bomber Command one.
Thanks Harry for your sevice.
Respect and gratitude. Per Ardua Ad Astra.
55,000 RAF Bomber Command aircrew killed over Germany.
THAT FIGURE HAS RECENTLY BEEN RAISED TO 58,000
These are incredible stories.
Idk much about my great grandfather but i do know he was a gunner on a bomber for 50 missions in ww2 which is alot wish i knew more like what the bomber was
Check with your local National Guard Outpost and see if you can get a copy of his DD214. It will tell you exactly where,when, and how long he was in a place as well as any awards or ribbons he was awarded.
Fascinating story....great respect to Harry #properchap 👏👏👏👏
One of the most fascinating war time stories about a bomber is the crew and pilot, Charlie Brown, of a B-17 returning from a bombing mission in Germany that encountered German ace Messerschmitt pilot Franz Stigler. I've watched all the videos on YT and read the book, "A Higher Call".......the story still brings tears!
Thank you Sir
Lovely voice. Sounds like Michael Caine.
Amazing information - what a great man! Stories like these need passing on down the ages.
God bless you. Thank you.
We have to go around....
Can just imagine.....
I WAS TRYING NOT TO
Kids of today think they are hard.
Doing this was hard.
Knowing 50%+ didn't come back!!
My dad volunteerd for aircrew in 1940.
Later seconded to SOE as a radio operator.
These guys are heroes.......
This is so great. Those people were so brave back then. They were so much harder than People nowerdays. Great respect
Thank you Sir!
Lowered altitude just to be able to breathe while getting back across Denmark, straight into all that flak. Hell of an introduction to operations.
Respect.
Unbelievable men! They would have had to carry me off that aircraft resembling a quivering lump of jelly on the first raid but to do that and then do it again the following night.... Amazing men - So glad many of them are getting to tell their stories!
Great post 👍
God Bless you sir, for your efforts, we became Free.
He helped to make Europe Communist and Islamic.
When ever you read or hear bomber veterans reminisce its always the Flak , whereas their biggest killer were the Nightfighters , The Americans made an interesting film explaining German Flak procedures , As
Lap top trouble, will finish what I was going to say, as a rule of thumb it took 1 second for a 88mm shell to reach a thousand ft. i am sure that every crew thought that the guns were aiming at them, but unless coned the Germans blasted a patch of the sky where they expected the planes to fly through.
Umm, no, flak shot down more bombers a *lot* more bombers than night fighters.
All of these fellows are my Heroes, They saved our Country from tyranny and twenty years later the tories gave it away
Twenty years after WWII the government was LABOUR, not the Tories. Harold Wilson was Prime Minister.
Brave men. Thank you.
What a magnificent man Harry was. In this cowardly epoch, when people hide cravenly inside their homes from a flu virus, this is a wonderful reminder of the courage that human beings can exhibit under intense pressure.
It's people _hiding in their homes from the COVID-19 virus_ that are keeping the elderly around Harry's age safe unlike the conspiracy and freedom clowns. 🙄
brave man
I could listen to these guys all day... Massive respect! Bomb bay remains closed... They needed them to stay closed to keep their huge balls in the plane 😂
Reminds me of Michael Caine, Bermondsey boy!
Bomber Command 🇬🇧🇨🇦🇦🇺🇧🇲 🙏🏻
& New Zealand 🇳🇿 My Grandfather flew 64 ops as Master Bomber on many ops in 7th Pathfinders & 622 Main force.
I wonder what Mr Ehrler thought of the regime he was defending. Nice Honourable chaps I should think like Mr Hitler and Mr Heydrich
👍✌️
Western Europe wasn't worth protecting then ...or now ...for Free. How about you NATO Fucks pay your share? Trump 2020