Rememberance Day Parade 2006 pictures

Ode to the Many

 “Ops on tonight,” says the Skipper
To all of the lads in the crew
And the colour just drains from our faces
As we prayed somehow we’d get through.

Fighters, we think, get the glory
As they swirl in the noonday sky
But the Lads in the Bomber squadrons
Just fly into darkness to die.

We’ve limped back from Hamburg and Dresden
Outer port engine ablaze
That’s why we take all the chances
We’re frightened and not really brave.

Tell Mother I died really bravely
So she can be proud of her son.
But the truth is I’ll cry like a baby
When flack takes the head off my chum.

We all want to get back to Blighty
And drink at the Trumpet and Crown
But we’ll be trapped in a blazing inferno
As our Lancaster spins and goes down.

So you see, there’s not any glory
For the crews that never get back
Just a sad little note and a story
And perhaps a memorial plaque.

It’s to the few AND the many we owe much
Most of us still full of youth,
But only the dead know what happened
You can only guess at the truth.

 Written by the Navigator of a Lancaster bomber in 1942.
The crew crashed in the North Sea returning from a raid.

There were no survivors. . . . .

Three Cheers For The Man On The Ground
by
Flight Mechanic E Sykes (1942).

Wherever you walk, you will hear people talk,
of the men who go up in the air,
of the daredevil way, they go into the fray;
Facing death without turning a hair.

 They'll raise a big cheer and buy lots of beer,
for the pilot who's come home on leave,
but they don't give a jigger, for a flight mech or rigger,
with nothing but "props" on his sleeve.

 They just say "Nice day" - and then turn away,
with never a mention of praise,
for the poor bloody erk, who does all the work,
and just orders his own beer - and pays !

 They've never been told, of the hours in the cold,
that he spends sealing Germany's fate,
how he works on a kite, till all hours of the night,
and then turns up next morning at eight.

 He gets no rake-off, for working 'til take-off,
or helping the aircrew prepare,
but whenever there's trouble - it's "Quick; at the double",
the man on the ground must be there.

 Each flying crew, could confirm it as true,
that they know what this man's really worth,
they know that he's part of the RAF's heart,
even though he stays close to the earth.

 He doesn't want glory, but please tell his story,
spread a little of his fame around,
He's just one of a few - so give him his due,
and "Three Cheers for the man on the ground

Rememberance Day Parade 2006