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June 3rd, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda A group of the “lucky ones” who served in Bomber Command in World War II have gathered in Canberra to pay tribute to their comrades.
About 300 veterans, serving air force personnel and families attended Sunday’s service at the Australian War Memorial to honour the memory of more than 3500 Australian men who died as Bomber Command members in World War II.
Warrant Officer Donald Southwell (ret’d) said those who attended were “the lucky ones who survived”.
“My skipper … always reminded me that every day for the survivors of Bomber Command was a bonus day,” he said.
“We had to get used to seeing the empty beds beside us when colleagues failed to return.”
He joined the air force in 1942, aged 18, and flew with Bomber Command from early 1945.
Mr Southwell also paid tribute to the parents who had sacrificed their sons.
Parents of those who joined up before they were 21 had to give permission to send their boys to war.
“This was a heart-rending experience for my mother and for all those other mothers and fathers,” he said.
Defence force vice chief Air Marshal Mark Binskin paid tribute to the camaraderie and courage of the pilots, who he said were instrumental in overthrowing the Nazi regime.
“Yours was a victory over dictators and tyrants,” he told the veterans.
“It required sustained courage for air crews to take off time and time again in the face of deadly odds.”
He noted the RAAF now operates squadron numbers 460 and 462 – originally two of the Australian units within Bomber Command – as a tribute.
A party of 32 Australian veterans will fly to London later this month courtesy of the government to attend the official dedication of the long-awaited memorial to Bomber Command.
One of those is Clive Gesling, who flew with 576 and 625 squadrons.
He was looking forward to the trip, his second return to England since the war.
“It’ll bring back a lot of memories of crew and people I knew and people who didn’t come back and all that,” he told AAP.
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