It Could Have Been Me

Heroes Remember

It Could Have Been Me

Transcript

Interviewer: Were there any of your crew every hurt on any of your trips? Well, I tell you, the only one I know of was our front, the bomb aimer. And this chap was from, was from, Brandon, Manitoba, Warrant Officer Orton, he was. Interviewer: Oh, I thought you were the bomb aimer? Hmmm? Interviewer: I thought you were the bomb aimer. I was a bomb aimer, and he was a bomb aimer, but he came on the squadron a bit late. And he didn’t have a crew, and he hadn’t had a trip, so he asked me if I’d step down and let him have a trip, to get his feet wet, sort of. And I’ll be darned if on his first trip, he got it. So it could’ve been me. Interviewer: What happened? Why, they were bombing this bridge, and I guess there happened to be a gun on this bridge. It came through the front of the aircraft, struck the ammunition belt and he was in the front, of course. He died from loss of blood before he got back to the base, yeah. The aircraft was… quite a lot of blood in the front of the aircraft when it came back. Warrant Officer Orton. So that was his first trip. Yeah. It could’ve been me. Interviewer: How did you feel when you heard about that? Well, I felt bad for him, of course, and his family. But I never got in touch with them after the war, or, I mean, I never got in touch with the family, ‘cause I felt maybe it was better not to bring it up to them. They probably suffered enough.

Description

Mr. Walker talks about a time he allowed another bombardier to take his place on a mission.

Don Walker

Don Walker was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1924. Mr. Walker grew up in Winnipeg with his sister. His father was a fireman who fought at Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele. Mr. Walker worked as a clerk in a telephone office until he enlisted at the age of 18. He became a bombardier and flew 20 missions with the 159 Squadron. After the war, he worked as an accountant.

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