Lack of Morale Fibre

Heroes Remember

Lack of Morale Fibre

Transcript

I know of only one instance on our squadron, now there may have been others, of course, of which, to which I would not be privy, but this chap was a highly intelligent person. In fact, I, I'd say he was closely akin to genius. And I think deep down, he was probably a pacifist, too, but he had elected to join the air force, and he was a fellow gunner. I remember him quite well, we shared times together in the mess, we weren't in the same Nissen hut, but being in the same trade, there was that tendency to be close, a closely-knit group. And each trade had, had it's own group, of course. We came back from a raid on which, or after which, we reported multiple losses, air craft being shot down. And I think that my count was about 25. The main force that night was about 400, so 25 would be a good percentage. And I, I think, in recollection, I, I think that we were all pretty demoralized by this. That was a particular raid that nobody wanted to even talk about, you know, we'd just seen so many air craft go down and realizing that every air craft was seven crew members. It was just tremendous to even comprehend the number of men that were, were lost. This chap, he went to debriefing and he told the intelligence officer, he said, "I do not intend to return to flying duties." And of course, the obvious thing then was to report it to the station warrant officer, who in turn, took it to the higher levels. And I sort of lost track for a while, but he disappeared. He disappeared from the squadron, and he was a warrant officer, by the way, which is the rank immediately below commissioned. But about six months afterwards, I went back to OTU on, at, at Stafford where I had done my operational training, and in the mess, I went in the mess, I guess, it was the evening meal, and who should turn up carrying my tray but the same, same chap. And I sat down at the table and who should come in with the tray of food for me but this self same gentleman, and I have to admit that it was very, very traumatic, very, very emotional. I hardly knew how to approach the situation, but he solved the problem. First thing he said was, "Hi, Johnny. How are you doing?" I was always known as Johnny on the squadron. And the ice was broken. As emotional as it was, he helped me rise above it and we carried on a conversation and in fact, when he, when he finished his evening's chores, we went out to the town and had an evening together. One of the first thoughts that I had when he made it awareto us that he was going to stop flying was that he had the strength to do that, knowing the ridicule to which he would be subjected by some, not, not by many of his superiors, I must say because in most cases, they were very understanding.

Description

Mr. Cole describes one situation in which he was on a raid with many casualties and many of the aircrew were demoralized. He describes what happens to one of his friends after the raid.

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:: 04:39
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

Lack of Morale Fibre

Heroes Remember