Description
Mr. Sellen remarks on the respect he had for the ground crew.
Richard Sellen
Richard Sellen was born in Oak Bank, Manitoba on September 19, 1920. His hometown has been Oak Bank for his entire life. He enlisted approximately a year and a half after the war started. He was in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 426 Squadron. His rank at the end of the war was flying officer. He returned to Oak Bank after the war and started a building construction company with his brother. They built all types of buildings throughout the province of Manitoba. His parents were both originally from England but they actually met in Winnipeg. They settled on a small acreage near Oak Bank and it is there on that very site that Mr. Sellen grew up and still lives today. He and his wife Mary have five children, 15 grandchildren and three great grandchildren. He has belonged to the Canadian Veterans Association since the war. After retirement, Mr. Sellen purchased a small plane which he enjoyed flying out of a grass strip near Oak Bank. He built and flew a home built airplane with two of his sons. Mr. Sellen holds great pride and recognition for being part of Bomber Command.
Transcript
We had like I say an exceptional ground crew. Fellows that were really interested in seeing that the plane was in good shape for us. If it hadn’t been for that well, you know, it would just liable to quit on you, you’d lose a motor or something like that. But you’d go to briefing, you’d go and have a meal and then you’d go to briefing and telling you where you were to bomb that night, you know, and what colour the flares would be that we were supposed to bomb on. And you look around at the rest of your group from that squadron, you know, because it would just be your own group there and you’d wonder who isn’t going to come back. And that was a sad time. And then with the raid over you would come back for debriefing and you’d know this one is missing or that one is missing. Fellows that you were associated with every day, you know, it was quite a sad thing.