Heroes: The Greatest Generation and the Second World War

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James Holland. Heroes: The Greatest Generation and the Second World War

Heroes. THE GREATEST GENERATION AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR. James Holland

Table of Contents

Introduction

Bill & George Byers

Tom & Dee Bowles

Dr Chris Brown

Bill Laity

John Leaver & Fred Walsh

Warren ‘Bing’ Evans & Frances Wheeler

George Jellicoe

Roland ‘Bee’ Beamont

Ken Adam

Tom Finney

Gianni Rossi

Lise Graf

Michael ‘Tubby’ Crawford

Wladek Rubnikowicz

Hugh ‘Jimmy’ James

Heinz Puschmann

Bill Pierce

Acknowledgements

P.S

About the author

LIFE at a Glance

A WRITING LIFE

About the book. The Good German

Read on. Have You Read?

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About the Author

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Copyright

About the Publisher

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For Jimmy P

Title Page

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Casualties during the Battle of Berlin, which lasted from November to the end of March 1944, were particularly high – 1,128 Allied bombers were shot down during this period, a staggering number. Yet every time they went out on a ‘war’, Bill and his crew miraculously seemed to make it back in one piece. ‘Once you’d done five or six,’ said Bill Morison, ‘your chances were improved, but you could still get shot down at any time. The fact that you were a very experienced crew didn’t guarantee anything.’ On 24 May 1944, the squadron took part in an attack on the German town of Aachen. Fifteen aircraft took off, Z for Zebra included, and made it safely to the target. There was little flak – the raid appeared to be one of their more straightforward missions, but on the return home, they came under repeated attack by night-fighters, and three of the squadron’s Halifaxes were shot down. All those lost had been experienced crews, the backbone of the squadron for many months. One had even been on their last mission – had they made it back to Leeming, their tour of duty would have been over.

Yet although Z for Zebra continued to make it back almost unscathed, these missions were not without incident for the crew. On one occasion Bill had thought they would never even manage to get airborne. There had been a strong crosswind and the aircraft had started to swing so badly as they hurtled down the runway that he’d thought he would lose control and flip the plane. Another time one of his port engines caught fire almost as soon as they’d left the ground. It was 30 March 1944, and they were due to bomb Nuremberg.

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