Thanks Ant H – he wrote his memoirs after a few decades of prodding in his 90’s, so no need to write again. He kept a diary in the gulag, a few almost indecipherable notes on stolen, repurposed paper and one stub of a pencil. In going through his translation extraordinary things leap out in short lines, in this case on a train in Russia : “-30 degrees, (on) train, back and bottom (frozen) stuck to (wagon) side”. He called all this “unremarkable, of no interest”. I pushed him to write for his unborn great grandchildren and am glad he did. Perhaps in the future I will add side notes to explain the context of events and photos. Already my kids mix up WW1 with Vietnam.

Thanks Andy and L Garey for condolences. We had a Mosquito nosecone on his wooden coffin, let him mix it with some Luftwaffe pilots in the afterlife.

Those old pilots and ground crew seem to have been around forever, but they go in a flash, then you can’t ask any more questions. I guess in the next 5 years there won’t be any left. Don’t hold back asking questions.

By the way, there seems to be a habit of prying brass plaques from gravestones to earn a few quid to put into your veins. In Australia, brass based Polish checkerboard ’roundels’ were put on graves to commemorate Polish aircrew and have gone missing. I have made 50 aluminium based checkerboard roundels, about 2 inch x 2 inch, to give to historically minded individuals or relatives who may want to place or replace these on graves of Polish aircrew. They are powdercoated with UV stabilised red and white and can be glued on with a good, strong construction adhesive. So if you know a gravestone that is missing one, get in touch. They cost about 15 quid each, don’t want any money, but at least send a photo of the grave and a bit of story so the postage spent goes to a fair cause.