“...my final respects.”
Heroes Remember
“...my final respects.”
I, I, I had a rear gunner and he was, the name was Joe Patmore,
and he would've given his life for any one of the crew. He was
that good a person. Eventually, he did. He was drowned. He was
the last one... I did, I never saw him. I went back to see all
the others. I didn't see him because his grave was moved from
one spot to, to Bergen-op-Zoom. The last time I was there, I
spoke with the chap that was guiding me and I said, "I have
never run into this... I've, I've, I've never seen his grave.
He says, "I'll take you there right now." And he took me there,
he took me to Bergen-op-Zoom. He said... there were 2,700
graves there, he said, "I don't know where he is." He said, "He's
in one of these graves, but I don't know where." He said, "I'll
get the book." He got the book and he said, "It's number so and
so." And you know what? I was standing right in front of him,
in front of his grave. It was just as though he had called me
to pay my final respects. That will always be with me for the
rest of my life. That'll be with me for the rest of my life. I
can, I can still see him. I can see him alive and I can see him
dead. Can you imagine? Out of 2,700, I was standing right in
front of his grave, of his, of his, of his stone. It was just as
though he'd, he'd called me and he said, "One last look."
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