We've seen depressing things here about WWII being forgotten, Poppy-sellers being robbed and suchlike.
So here's my little remembrance gesture this year. I've been reading about the 381st BG lately and was struck by an incident on 13th July 1944. A B-17 'lost' two engines on takeoff and the pilot tried an immediate crash-landing in a field next to Ridgewell Airfield.
The bomber slid from right to left in the photo. The trees on the left weren't there in 1944 ; they conceal a railway cutting. The bomber crashed into the cutting, caught fire, and three 500lb bombs exploded. Seven of the crew died instantly.
There's no marker or memorial to this long-forgotten incident ; today I placed my Poppy by the lip of the now-disused railway cutting as a small tribute to all the bomber crews who never made it back.
[img]graemlins/poppy.gif[/img]
