Memorable Moments with the English People

Heroes Remember

Memorable Moments with the English People

Transcript

Yes, there were so many instances where if we happened to have a leave, we'd probably head for London. That was the thing to do naturally. And there were, although the blitz was over at that time, there were still some sporadic raiding going on by the Germans. They could still get across with a few hynkles (sp) So there was or there were instances where we were faced with again the total endurance if I can put it that way of the people and the fact that they were able to rise above the most difficult circumstances in which they found themselves. You'd go along a bombed out street and there would be a big sing on a buidling saying, "We're still in business!" You know, real morale boosters. And of course that, naturally, is what a lot of them were doing. They were boosting morale. There was the occasional raids. In the latter stages, of course, you had the B1's and the B2's. The Buzz Bombs, the B1, and then the introduction to rocketry, really with the B2's because they were just pilotless bombs, of course. And I remember doing a diversionary trip one night when the main force was bombing Pinamon (sp), which was the heart of the atomic and the rocketry part of Germany. That's where the scientists were doing all their work on the, well, it would have been the atom bomb. I remember one occasion where my warrant had just gone through raising me from a flight sergeant to a warrant officer and I had gone down to London to a tailor shop to be fitted for a uniform. I had ten days leave. So, I got my uniform, put it on for the first time, took a bus down to Seven Oaks to visit some people that I had gotten to know there through the Newfoundland Club, actually. The buzz bomb, the first robot bomb that the Germans invented, you could hear the put-put-put-put of the engine and you were told that if the engine cut out, it meant that it was directly above you and head for the nearest ditch. And I got off the bus in Seven Oaks and I was walking down towards, it was the lane towards the Ashton home where I was going to be staying and sure enough, I heard the put-put-put-put. And I heard it cut out. I dived head-first into the nearest ditch, head-first into slime and algae and everything else with this beautiful new uniform on. That was worse than anything that happened to me, I think, during the war. It was one of these crazy things. And the thing landed about, I guess, probably a mile away. So I could have saved my pride and my uniform.

Description

Mr. Cole recollects some of the memorable moments he had with the people of England.

Raymond Boyd Cole

Raymond Boyd Cole was born in Elliston on July 14, 1924. His father worked in the United States and then at a papermill in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, when Raymond Cole was one month old. Mr. Cole grew up in Newfoundland.

In 1941, Mr. Cole finished grade 11 and was 17 years old in July of that year. He wanted to be a fighter pilot so in 1942 he signed up for the air force by altering his birth certificate. He received his wings on November 12, 1943. He found out later that he was not to become a pilot, but he did become an air gunner.

Mr. Cole spent three weeks at #1 Air Gunners Ground Training School (AGGTS). He then spent six weeks at #9 Bombing and Gunnery School (BGS). Following #9 BGS he went overseas. Further training includes #30 Operation Training Unit (OTU) and then 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) where he made the conversion from twin engine aircraft to heavier, four engine aircraft with seven crew members.

Mr. Cole flew as an air gunner in over twenty operations with as much as one thousand aircraft in some. He was involved in the Normandy Campaign and many of the missions were heavy concentration bombings of the Ruhr Valley, which was a heavy industrial area.

Mr. Cole completed his flying tour (thirty operations) and went on to do three more operations afterwards. One to help his crew finish up their tour and then volunteered for another two. He worked as an orderly and as a truck driver for a while before returning to Grand Falls, after three and a half years overseas. Afterwards, he became a minister.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 03:57
Person Interviewed:: Raymond Boyd Cole
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 166th Airborne
Rank:: Corporal
Occupation:: Air Gunner

Language selection

Memorable Moments with the English People

Heroes Remember