On Saturday 12 October 2024 I
visited International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln, England. The IBCC website gives this brief description
of the history of IBCC.
|
In
2009, the then Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire, Tony Worth CVO, formed a
Trust to realise the dream of building a memorial that commemorated not only
the bravery and sacrifice of those who served and supported Bomber Command,
but also to officially recognise the significant contribution of
Lincolnshire to the outcome of WWII. From
that dream, the International Bomber Command Centre was developed with a
remit to tell the stories of all those involved in the Command during
the last major worldwide conflict. The staff team have been backed by
over 500 volunteers, from across the world, all sharing the same vision –
Recognition, Remembrance and Reconciliation. |
Perhaps understandably, the IBCC
website glosses over some of the factual background to the establishment of
IBCC as a tribute to those who served in the Royal Air Force Bomber Command and
as a data resource for those wanting to find out information about Bomber
Command. Bomber Command played a vital
role in the defeat of Nazism and successive British governments have been
dishonest in their refusal to recognize the services given by members of Bomber
Command. IBCC has been doing what the
British government should have done shortly after WW 2 ended – but the British
government refused to honour this group of servicemen. IBCC has filled the need instead of the
government – and it has done so on a mostly voluntary basis.
****
My dad Clifford Hankin served in
Bomber Command from his enlistment in the RAF in September 1940 until the end
of the war with Hitler. During my visit
to IBCC yesterday, I had the pleasure of talking to Peter Jones, Chief Archivist
at IBCC. It is difficult to imagine how
Mr Jones could have been more knowledgeable or more interested and compassionate
and helpful to a complete stranger.
Peter almost immediately noticed
an unusual feature about Cliff’s Service Record.
· Cliff
was posted to RAF Mildenhall on 30 May 1941.
· Cliff
was admitted to the RAF station hospital for an unstated reason on 15 June 1941.
· Cliff
was discharged from hospital on 25 June 1941.
· There
is a gap on the Service Record where Cliff was NOT posted anywhere until
he was posted to RAF Feltwell on 13 February 1944 for what was probably a
training course.
Peter said that he was intrigued
by this “gap” of nearly 3 years when, according to the Service Record, Cliff
was not actually posted to any specific base in the RAF. In Peter’s opinion, the Service Record should
have shown specific RAF postings for Cliff over this nearly 3 year period. The lack of any information about any
postings during this period may indicate that Cliff was given wartime work assignments
which Cliff’s senior officers in the RAF did not want to appear on the Service
Records. It may be impossible to discover
what those assignments were, but at least I now know that there was probably a
lot more to Cliff’s RAF war service than he ever openly talked about.
Was dad employed by the RAF in
some sort of secret assignments? It
seems that he may indeed have been used in some types of “hush, hush” operations
during this 3 year period.
****
I had hoped Peter might be able
to illuminate me on the awarding to dad of the Air Crew Europe Star. I know Cliff was definitely awarded this
medal because his brother Eric described it to me and corrected my sketch when
I included something in the sketch that was incorrect.
Wiki says this about the Air
Crew Europe Star criteria.
|
The
strategic bombing campaign against German industrial cities, military
installations and a wide variety of other targets continued throughout World
War Two and made a decisive contribution to Allied victory. Although the
Royal Air Force suffered significant losses of both men and aircraft, the
campaign severely curtailed German industrial production. The
Air Crew Europe Star was instituted in May 1945 for award to air crew who
flew operations from the United Kingdom over Europe. It was not awarded to
supporting ground personnel. Two
clasps were instituted to be worn on the Air Crew Europe Star's ribbon,
'Atlantic' and 'France and Germany'. British uniform regulations stipulated
that no one person could be awarded more than one clasp to any one campaign
star, and neither the Atlantic Star nor the France and Germany Star could be
awarded to a recipient of the Air Crew Europe Star. Subsequent entitlement to
either of these stars was denoted by the award of the appropriate clasp to
the Air Crew Europe Star, with only the first clasp earned being worn. Award
criteria The
Air Crew Europe Star was awarded for operational flying from bases in the
United Kingdom over Europe from the outbreak of the Second World War on 3
September 1939 to 5 June 1944, the day before the D-Day Normandy Invasion,
both dates inclusive. For air crew of the Royal Air Force, two months of
operational flying was required in order to qualify for the award of the Air
Crew Europe Star. Army personnel qualified for this star after they had
served on air crew duties for four months, provided two months of this
minimum four-month period had been operational flying over Europe with at
least one operational sortie. The 1939-1945 Star must already have been
earned before commencing qualifying service for the Air Crew Europe Star. From
D-Day on 6 June 1944, operational flying over Europe qualified air crew for
the award of the France and Germany Star or, for holders of either the
Atlantic Star or Air Crew Europe Star, the award of the France and Germany
Clasp. |
Peter Jones told me that before
any RAF member could have been awarded the Air Crew Europe Star, there must
have been some written proof that Cliff had indeed flown as a part of RAF air
crew. Unfortunately, the Service Record
makes no mention of dad’s service as air crew member. Equally unfortunately, there is no official
government record of the service personnel to whom WW 2 medals were awarded. Peter could not help identify the reasons why
Cliff was awarded the Air Crew Europe Star.
I will keep trying to find out
what “hush hush” work Cliff was involved in during the missing 3 years and I
will continue trying to discover the details of his air crew service. I will try and find out about Cliff’s service
as an air crew member.
****
This is the front entrance to
IBCC.
Carving just outside IBCC door leading to the Spire.
The beautiful and striking IBCC
Spire.
IBCC memorial to Jewish servicemen of Bomber Command.
The top of the IBCC Jewish Memorial.
These members of the Dam Busters raid never made it home – like so many thousands of others.
View of the city of Lincoln outside IBCC.
Part of one of the many panels
listing those who died while serving in Bomber Command; this one shows a
serviceman called Hankin.
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