On the night of May 16, 1943, a squadron of bombers set out from Britain to conduct strikes against heavily fortified dams in the Ruhr Valley of Germany, using bombs that bounced on the water before exploding. Of the 133 crew members who started the mission, only 77 returned.
The last surviving pilot of those who came back was John Leslie Munro, who died Tuesday at 96 in Auckland, New Zealand.
A lot of these guys have lived into their 90s. The one friend I have left who served in WWII is 96. This group of folks is going nowhere until they are damn good and ready.
In an interview with the BBC on the 70th anniversary of the Dambusters mission, Mr. Munro said he had not been afraid. “I approached most operations with a thought: ‘If I’m going to cop it, so be it,’ ” he said.
Wouldn’t you live forever if you made it out of there, too?
A.
You know Allison, you always write about the things that matter, whether you’re voicing your outrage over the “outrageous”, or your love of the sweetness (ferretblogging) that also,thank god, comes with the territory called life. Thanks again kt