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Faith

Heroes Remember

Faith

Transcript
Interviewer: With the destruction that you saw all around you during that period of time, the raids and the casualties that, no doubt, came from those planes that you saw falling from the sky around you and the destruction that you and your comrades were bringing to the enemy, did any of, any of that have any effect on the faith that you held? That's a question to which there are almost two sides and I, I hesitate to get into this because it is another one of the very emotional things. I would preface my remarks by saying that it's appalling in retrospect how regiment and training and discipline can make you do things that you would otherwise avoid. You, you would absolutely abhor having to do them. I can confess that up to the tenth bombing trip that I had made, I would find myself thinking, "There are people down there like my parents, like my sister and my brother." And there would be that hesitancy, but I, I was on leave and I went down to a little community, well, not a little community actually, a, a small city, I guess, certainly a large town, on the Thames Estuary, and right at the mouth of the river, well out actually, and it was a Saturday afternoon and people were out picking up the things that they could afford to pick up or that they could find. Streets were crowded. There was one lone main street right up from the sea, right through the town. And there was a, I don't know if it was a JU 88 or if it was a fighter, but it came in at low level across the channel. It came in and strafed the main street from one end to the other and then just took off home. And we were in uniform, so we were sort of requisitioned to help out wherever we could. And I remember picking up limbs of little ones. The upshot of it is that after that, and this is the reason why I can say that it, it's appalling that you can be, you can do things, whenever Johnny Bishell said, "Bombs away," I was in the rear-turret or the mid-upper turret saying, "Take it you so-and-so's." It was that thing that just sort of changed the whole complexion of the war for me personally.
Description

Mr. Cole describes how the destruction, raids, and casualties affected his faith.

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:
03:42
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

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