Appreciation for Bomber Command

I think, at that time, people appreciated what Bomber Command was doing. When you’d go to London on leave with your brevet up they knew right away it was a gunner or that you were probably part of Bomber Command and just the appreciation that was shown. When you flew and you saw the thousands upon thousands of shells being fired, the absolute number of German soldiers and people that were involved in the protection of their cities from Bomber Command. If Bomber Command hadn’t existed or hadn’t existed in the size that it was, there are thousands of soldiers who would have been fighting on the two fronts, on the Russian front or other front and could have possibly made a difference in the war. The war wasn’t all one-sided at the end, it was still hanging in balance and my feeling that Bomber Command by drawing all those people to the defence of the country itself rather than fighting on the ground made a big difference.