{"id":218,"date":"2017-11-07T02:13:19","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T07:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=218"},"modified":"2017-11-13T20:09:21","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T01:09:21","slug":"the-last-flight-of-hx-313","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=218","title":{"rendered":"THE LAST FLIGHT OF HX 313"},"content":{"rendered":"
On May 27, 1944, a Halifax Bomber, HX 313, was ripped and torn by a German night Fighter after dropping its bomb load on Bourg Leopold, Belgium.<\/div>\n
A cousin who I had \u00a0never met was the upper Middle Gunner and was killed as the \u00a0night fighter shells ripped \u00a0across the underbelly of the plane. \u00a0Over the last few\u00a0decades I have been able to reconstruct much of what happened before, during and after that fateful evening. \u00a0My use of dialogue may offend sensitive ears.\u00a0 Sorry about that. \u00a0This will be a long story\u2026to be sent in segments.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Nov. 2017<\/div>\n
(from manuscript written in 1980-1990)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cNight Fighter coming fast\u2026under our guts.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cCan\u2019t see him Vic\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cStitching us\u2026fucking bastard\u2026can anyone hear me?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hit bad, Vic\u2026trying toehold her steady\u2026think we\u2019re going in.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGeorge\u2026George\u2026for Christ sake answer, George.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cCrew check, pipe down Victor\u2026<\/div>\n
\u201dBob\u2026bob\u2026take a \u00a0look behind me\u2026Bob OK?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDead, Eric\u2026slumped\u2026blood.”<\/div>\n
\u201cVictor? \u00a0\u2026Am Ok but hydraulics hit.:\u2019\u201d<\/div>\n
:Wild\u2026Wilf?\u2026someone check \u00a0on Wilf…\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cKen\u2026Ok\u2026think Wolf got it, maybe George too.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMorris\u2026Morris?\u2026Someone check on Morris\u2026controls \u00a0shaky\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cElliot, you all rigjht?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cOK! \u00a0Fuck, we\u2019re going down. \u00a0Eric can you hold \u00a0her?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGet the hell out\u2026now\u2026Jesus Christ she\u2019s shaking.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cVictor?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cFucking bubble won\u2019t turn\u2026hydraulic lines \u00a0cut\u2026can\u2019t get out of this fucking thing.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cRest of you, jump now\u2026\u2019chutes on I \u00a0goddamn well hope.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cVictor\u2026Victor\u2026try to manually twist the goddamn bubble\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWon\u2019t fucking move. \u201c<\/div>\n
\u201cSomeone \u00a0get back \u00a0there and get that fucking bubble to swivel\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cKen here\u2026fucking thing is fucked\u2026Victor, can\u2019t help you\u2026goddamit\u201d<\/div>\n
\u2018Get the hell out yourself Ken\u2026I\u2019m going down with her\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cEverybody out that can get \u00a0out\u2026can\u2019t hold \u00a0her any longer\u2026.going into flat spin\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAll out\u2026so long Victor. \u00a0Sorry\u2026keep trying…\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cJesus, I\u2019m done for\u2026witness to my own death. \u00a0Hope George got out. \u00a0Never heard \u00a0from him.<\/div>\n
Ken was evasive.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u2026.<\/div>\n
\u201cStarting to turn\u2026centrifugal force..\u201d<\/div>\n
\u2026<\/div>\n
\u201cFucking bubble moving outward\u2026outward\u2026I can fall out\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u2026<\/div>\n
\u201cFalling\u2026free\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
…<\/div>\n
\u201cGoddamn \u2018chute not attached right\u2026 just the buckler belt\u2026Falling\u2026got to pull \u2018chute down\u2026reach it \u2026 shove<\/div>\n
myself in\u2026now. can just pull the \u00a0rip \u00a0\u2026ready? \u00a0PULL HARD.<\/div>\n
\u2026<\/div>\n
FWOOM!<\/div>\n
\u2026<\/div>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s opening. \u00a0\u2026<\/div>\n
\u2026<\/div>\n
\u201cYOW\u2026hurts \u00a0like hell\u2026my Groin\u2026my balls\u2026jesus!\u201d<\/div>\n
\u2026<\/div>\n
\u201cOld Blonde Bomber pirouetting\u2026going to hit\u2026FLASH!\u2026She\u2019s gone\u2026hope boys got out.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u2026<\/div>\n
\u201cGeorge didn\u2019t answer roll call\u2026maybe his \u00a0intercom \u00a0fucking smashed. \u00a0Maybe not!\u201d<\/div>\n
…<\/div>\n
\u201cSee a field\u2026coming \u00a0up fast\u2026YOW! \u2026hurts like hell\u2026but on the fucking ground.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u2026<\/div>\n
\u201cDark\u2026must hide \u2018chute\u2026pain bad\u2026crawl to fencerow\u2026hide\u2026.God\u2026the pain.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u2026<\/div>\n
\u201cGot to give myself up\u2026crawl to that farmhouse\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u2026<\/div>\n
\u201cHere, take this evader money\u2026call police to come and get me\u2026Pain bad.:<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
(Note: \u00a0Crew of HX 313. \u00a0Eric Mallett, pilot; Bob Irwin, wireless operator, killed; Wilf Wakely (killed), Vic Poppa, Tail Gunner;<\/div>\n
Ken Sweatman, Bomb Aimer; Morris Muir (English engineer); George Freeman, mid-Upper Gunner, killed; Flying Officer Elliot (assigned to HX 313 to<\/div>\n
make him familiar with bombing raids, his first trip)<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
\n
Halifax bomber identical to HX 313\u2026only thing distinguishing HX 313 from others was a nose art painting of a semi-clothed woman beneath which \u00a0was<\/div>\n
painted \u00a0\u201cThe Blonde Bomber\u201d. \u00a0Just one of the 12,000 planes, mostly bombers, shot down in World War 2.<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
The Skipton on Swale air base as \u00a0it appears today. \u00a0When \u00a0we visited the site years ago \u00a0it had been converted to \u00a0a \u00a0large poultry operation. \u00a0the ruways had been ripped up except for some \u00a0heavy concrete set down pads.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
\n
This is what Skipton on Swale looked like in 1944\u2026a triangle of runways and \u00a0holding pads.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cAlan, we don\u2019t have much\u2026just a few fragments\u2026mom and dad only got this and a few others.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThanks, Mickey, I know this story could be rough on you.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMom and dad are \u00a0gone now\u2026I would sort of like to know what really \u00a0happened to George.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And so the story began\u2026fragments became clues\u2026clues unfolded the story of The Last Flight of \u00a0HX 313\u2026the Blonde Bomber.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
One piece seemed Just a nonsense photograph. \u00a0Almost a throwaway. \u00a0An RCAF officer’s hat sitting upside down n front of a military quintet hut with a little dog sitting in the hat and scrawled below was the picture was the word \u2018Nooky\u2019, obviously the puppies name.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Sometimes very simple things \u00a0lead \u00a0to very big events. \u00a0Such was the case of that photograph. \u00a0It was taken in 1943 or 1944 by George Freeman at a newly constructed<\/div>\n
air base at Skipton on Swale in central Yorkshire. \u00a0That much I knew. \u00a0One of the few reminders to me that George was once a living breathing \u00a0young man. \u00a0Never met<\/div>\n
George even though he was \u00a0my \u00a0cousin. \u00a0When \u00a0he volunteered as a gunner in World War II, I was just a little boy perhaps four or five years old. \u00a0At that age the world \u00a0is huge, anonymous and a \u00a0bit frightening. \u00a0Puzzling out relatives impossible. \u00a0If George met me, as he may \u00a0well have done, he might have tickled me under the chin<\/div>\n
or frizzed up my hair with his hand.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cHere Alan are a couple of pictures of George. \u00a0RCAF pictures. \u00a0Not supposed to take many pictures. \u00a0Security. Once they were joyful but tragic events changed all that.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWho was George?\u201d<\/div>\n
Who was George indeed! \u00a0Forty years ago, maybe around 1975 I Was \u00a0doing short stories on CBC\u2019s Radio Noon. \u00a0Little five minute things. \u00a0That was \u00a0why \u00a0my cousin Mickey<\/div>\n
gave \u00a0me George\u2019s \u00a0picture. \u00a0\u201cMight be something you could use for Remembrance day on the radio.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0Could \u00a0I uncover the short life of a cousin I had never met?<\/div>\n
The officers cap with the puppy and the word \u00a0\u2018Nooky\u201d was as \u00a0good a place as any to start. \u00a0\u201cWhat does the word mean?\u201d \u00a0If I \u00a0had known the meaning of the word<\/div>\n
I would never have made it the central \u00a0mystery of my radio \u00a0story. \u00a0Over the air waves \u00a0I wondered \u00a0if anyone could tell me anything about the lives \u00a0of the young men aboard HX 313 when it was \u00a0shot down in May 1944. \u00a0\u201cperhaps this \u00a0word \u00a0Nooky is a clue\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The \u00a0response was immediate. \u00a0Particularly I \u00a0discovered that Nooky referred to sexual activity. \u00a0Something young airmen sought after frantically because, by 1944, most of them were aware their lives were going to come to an abrupt end. \u00a0 Too many of their friends had \u00a0died for them not to know \u00a0the odds were stacked against them as they made raid after raid deep into \u00a0central \u00a0 Germany in Halifax and \u00a0Lancaster bombers. \u00a0Slow lumbering machines targeted \u00a0by swift German night fighters. \u00a0 So it was sex \u00a0that started me<\/div>\n
on the trail of George. \u00a0This is the story which I have titled \u00a0\u2018The Last Flight of HX 313\u201d.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Death doesn\u2019t impact on a five year old as \u00a0much sit does on an older person. When George Freeman was \u00a0declared \u00a0missing on Mya 27, 1944, I \u00a0barely noticed.<\/div>\n
My parents were a \u00a0little different that day,..distracted\u2026so \u00a0my brother and I just sipped out to Dufferin Park a little earlier than usual. We didn\u2019t really know there was a war being fought in Europe, the Soviet Union, the Middle East, Burma, China and ten-aged hoodlums attacked each other with lead pipes, baseball bats, knives and, when the weaponry was limited, their bare fists and feet. Etc and I scouted \u00a0the battlefield from our third \u00a0floor attic \u00a0like \u00a0turkey vultures seeking carrion. Our rented<\/div>\n
flat at 18 Sylvan Avenue was dark and scary, a Victorian mansion at one time but subdivided by our landlady into apartments. \u00a0After the gangs ceased fighting due<\/div>\n
to police counter raids, Eric and \u00a0I tried to gather the hidden tools of war and \u00a0trundled them home. \u00a0Some things we found were more \u00a0related \u00a0to love than war as it turned out. \u00a0Mom told us \u00a0not to bring any more \u00a0of those Perfectly good used \u00a0balloons<\/div>\n
found \u00a0beneath the forsythia bushes. \u201cDirty things, boys,\u201d<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cRed, the letter came today saying Missing in Action.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWho this tlme?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGeorge Freeman, the \u00a0kid.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThey are all kids, Elsie,…How are Uncle Chris and Aunt Kitty taking it?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBad but hope for the best\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThose Air Force boys \u00a0are getting the \u00a0shit knocked out of them.Especially the bomber crews\u2026Flying coffins.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat do you think his \u00a0chances of survival \u00a0are?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot good but some \u00a0survive. \u00a0We know that from the \u00a0Red Cross \u00a0parcels that get to German Stalags.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
It was a whispered \u00a0conversation, not meant for our ears. Eric was four and I was \u00a0six in 1944.. \u00a0So young that we did<\/div>\n
not even know \u00a0there \u00a0was a war going on in Europe, Russia, the Middle East, China, Japan, the island \u00a0strings<\/div>\n
in the Pacific Ocean, To Eric and \u00a0I any mention of war must mean Dufferin Park where \u00a0the Beanery and \u00a0Junction<\/div>\n
gangs squared of regularly. \u00a0 Now \u00a0that was \u00a0a war.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cEric, come quick the Junction gang has arrived. There\u2019s going to \u00a0be a big fight for \u00a0sure.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGuns?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cdon\u2019t see any\u2026pieces of pipe and baseball \u00a0bats.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLook a \u00a0Beanery \u00a0guy just slugged a kid with a piece of pipe\u2026kid dropped down.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDead?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo\u2026moving \u2026 crawling\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cPolice are there now\u2026got one guy \u00a0on the hood of the police car\u2026punching him.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWatch where they hide their weapons\u2026we can get them with the wagon.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLeave those balloons\u2026don\u2019t pick them up\u2026Mom says they are \u00a0dirty old things.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMake \u00a0good \u00a0balloons though.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0Our rented flat at 18 SylvanAvenue, \u00a0was a huge \u00a0old Victorian pile of bricks \u00a0that sat smack dab \u00a0in<\/div>\n
the south central core of the park. \u00a0Gone now. Demolished when Dufferin Park was expanded. The \u00a0reasons why \u00a0these two gangs of<\/div>\n
teen-agers fought made no sense to us. \u00a0Made \u00a0no sense to mom and dad either.They fought over girls. \u00a0They fought over territory. \u00a0I<\/div>\n
think \u00a0they just liked \u00a0to fight. \u00a0A gang rumble was a kind \u00a0of rite of passage.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
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\n
\n
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\n
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\u201cWhat happened Alan?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe bad boys got \u00a0me \u00a0in the ravine\u2026took off my clothes.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow many times have I told you not to take that short cut through the \u00a0park?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI know mom\u2026but they didn\u2019t get the \u00a0cucumber.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cCucumber?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cPut it in my shoe\u2026hid it\u2026here it is.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhere did you get that?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cTeacher gave one to all \u00a0of us.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy put it \u00a0in your shoe?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBecause the bad boys \u00a0check my pockets when \u00a0they catch \u00a0me.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Fear made \u00a0Eric and I cautious. \u00a0The acquisitive instinct made us take risks. \u00a0So we spotted \u00a0where the gangs hid<\/div>\n
their weapons as the police rounded \u00a0them. \u00a0 In 1944, Dufferin Park had \u00a0a real wilderness feel to it. \u00a0Hills that seemed<\/div>\n
high to us and a deep totally wooded ravine cut right through the \u00a0park. \u00a0The slash of that ravine had to be crossed to get<\/div>\n
home from Kent Public School. \u00a0And that ravine was where the weapons could be stashed under bushes so thick that people<\/div>\n
could even hide beneath them. \u00a0Eric and I \u00a0hid there sometimes. \u00a0 Other \u00a0things happened \u00a0in that ravine that were<\/div>\n
quite bewildering. \u00a0Boys and girls on top of each other. That\u2019s \u00a0where the \u00a0balloons could be found.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Today, year 2017, the ravine has been levelled\u2026bushes gone. Hiding places gone. \u00a0Just a slight dip in the grassy park.<\/div>\n
It was different in 1944 when the \u00a0Parkie, Mr. Hayward, tended \u00a0all his plantings from his little brick garden shed near Gladstone \u00a0Avenue.<\/div>\n
Mr. Hayward was one \u00a0of our heroes. \u00a0He kept an eye \u00a0 on us when trouble was brewing. \u00a0Our small adventures were JUST CHILD\u2019S PLAY.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Our cousin George was in the fight of his life, a fight he \u00a0would lose on May 24,1944.
<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

BOMBER COMMAND WAS NOT CHILD\u2019S PLAY
<\/p>\n

\n
\n
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<\/div>\n
George Freeman was killed in May 1944\u2026.the last flight of HX313, a Halifax bomber assigned to 424 squadron of No. 6 Bomber Command \u00a0stationed in Skipton on Swale, Yorkshire. \u00a0The target that night was Bourg Leopold \u00a0where it \u00a0was believed a \u00a0German regiment was billeted. \u00a0 The story of \u00a0HX 313 is forgotten. \u00a0Who among us even know the difference between a Halifax bomber and a Lancaster? \u00a0Few Canadians living today know that many Canadians lived and \u00a0died \u00a0in Halifax Bombers.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
When word came back to aunt Kitty and \u00a0Uncle Chris that George was \u00a0Missing in \u00a0Action, they hope for \u00a0the best\u2026a slim hope\u2026and \u00a0feared the worst. \u00a0By 1944<\/div>\n
most Canadians \u00a0knew the fearful losses of Bomber Command. \u00a0They did \u00a0not know \u00a0the \u00a0specifics. \u00a0They just knew that their son or a neighbours son or the majority of a high school class were not coming back.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Today the numbers are known. \u00a0For \u00a0every 100 men and boys in Bomber Command, 45 were killed, 6 were grievously wounded and 8 became prisoners of war. \u00a0Only 41<\/div>\n
of those 100 airmen \u00a0came back unscathed. \u00a0Some of those survivors could \u00a0never \u00a0shake the nightmares that seemed unending. \u00a010,000 Canadian airmen were killed.<\/div>\n
The statistic is even more horrific for those who flew in bombers from the beginning of the war until the ned. \u00a0Only one out of very ten survived.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We have a tendency to regard the slaughter of Canadians in the trenches of \u00a0World \u00a0War One as the worst any war could ever offer. \u00a0Offer? \u00a0Wrong \u00a0word but let it stand.<\/div>\n
The death rate in Bomber Command \u00a0was only exceeded by the death rate in German submarines. \u00a0Simps;y and starkly put the majority of the young Canadians \u00a0who joined bomber Command did \u00a0not survive.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
George Freeman was one of these. \u00a0Aunt Kitty and Uncle Chris put his kit bag in his room \u00a0when it was returned to them. \u00a0They left the room the same as it had always been.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Did \u00a0George know these fearful statistics? \u00a0Maybe not when he first signed \u00a0up as and RCAF airman. \u00a0But by the time his \u00a0squadron, 424 Tiger Squadron of Hamilton,..by the<\/div>\n
time George reached Skipton on \u00a0Swale in Yorkshire he knew the odds were \u00a0stacked \u00a0against him. More Bombers were lost in one single night raid than were<\/div>\n
lost by Fighter Command in the whole Battle of Britain. \u00a0The average loss are of those flying \u00a0Halifax Bombers with the RCAF was 6.05% per raid.Over 1 out of every 20 raiding Bombers did \u00a0not return to base each raid.Bomber Crews were mandated to make 30 raids each\u2026called tours of operations. \u00a0Statistically that meant that only 16% of air crews reached thematic retirement figure of 30 \u2018tours of operations\u2019. \u00a0Little wonder that some considered these Halifax bombers flying coffins.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
How many heavy bombers \u00a0in the total \u00a0picture of Bomber Command were lost? \u00a012,330 bombers were \u00a0either shot down by Germans \u00a0Fighters or fell apart when hit by German Flak or, like one of 424 squadrons \u00a0Halifax Bombers that failed \u00a0to get airborn with its load of bombs that had been chalked with greetings to Adolph Hitler.<\/div>\n
Imagine that. \u00a012,330 Bombers \u00a0destroyed along with most of their crews.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I have researched and \u00a0put together The story of George Freeman’s Halifax bomber,… affectionately emblazoned with a nose art image of a seductive woman and named the Blonde Bomber\u2026.but really known as HX 313.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
How George died \u00a0is not really known. \u00a0He was likely killed at his gun position by German intercepte, George was the mid upper gunner, but it is also possible he \u00a0was killed on the ground by irate German civilians<\/div>\n
who suffered \u00a0many civilian casualties in what \u00a0became \u00a0thousand bomber raids \u00a0on German cities by the end of the war. A thousand bombers? \u00a0Hard to believe but fact.<\/div>\n

PUT IN DIALOGUE FORM:

\u201cGeorge didn\u2019t have a chance?\u201d
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d
\u201cI mean most of the boys in RCAF Bomber Command were doomed. \u00a0\u00a010,000 of them died. For every 100 active Bomber crew, 45 were killed, 6 were horribly wounded
and 8 became prisoners of war.
\u201cGet serious\u2026I never heard that before.\u201d
\u201cStatisitcs \u00a0came once the war was over\u2026and not widely published.\u201d
\u201cHow many died?\u201d
\u201c10,000\u201d
\u201cMostly young kids full of piss and vinegar\u201d
\u201cChances \u00a0of an RCAF kid who volunteered \u00a0at the beginning of the war and living \u00a0to the end was 10%..1 in 10.
\u201cHow many bombers were lost\u2026shot down or exploded and fell apart?
\u201c12,330 Bombers in all \u2026 no wonder wrecks \u00a0are still being discovered \u2026\u201d
\u201cDidn\u2019t I read that a German town was evacuated last moth, Oct. 2017 when a blockbuster bomb was discovered unexploded, buried unnoticed for 60 years.\u201d
\u201cWe were hated.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSo were they. \u00a0Hated Germans. \u00a0That\u2019s the nature of war\u2026hate justifies nasty things.”
\u201cGeorge may have \u00a0been killed by a \u00a0night fighter\u2026or killed on the ground by an iriate civilian.\u201d
\u201cWhy would a civilian do that?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cA \u00a0lot of the bombs hit civilian targets.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAccidentally?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo, the bomber raids were planned to destroy German Industry\u2026to spread terror\u2026to break German will to resist\u2026.to win the war..\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow many civilians killed?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cOver 300,000 and nearly \u00a0800,000 wounded by the bombing.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSome say 600,000 civilians killed by bombers like HX313.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cEstimates\u2026who really coined?”<\/div>\n

(Note: \u00a0I like the dialogue form better than narrative\u2026going to convert my narrative.)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On May 27, 1944, a Halifax Bomber, HX 313, was ripped and torn by a German night Fighter after dropping its bomb load on Bourg Leopold, Belgium. A cousin who I had \u00a0never met was the upper Middle Gunner and was killed as the \u00a0night fighter shells ripped \u00a0across the underbelly of the plane. \u00a0Over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=218"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218\/revisions\/219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}