you must be very proud of your dads war efforts vivThe person on the right was my dad and the person on the left was his senior officer. My dad was a flight engineer in the RAF. During WW2 they flew over France dropping agents and supplies for the French underground I was told this photo was taken in Scotland while on training, which I think was just after the war had ended.
I was also told that he worked with a lot of Polish and European officers, so wondered if the badges had something to do with that work.
yes viv both wars changed people of that there is no doubt so many were mentally scared for life and as we all know back then there was not the help and support that serving veterans have today and even with todays help for many it never makes things right..some men either sent back their medals or simply disposed of them some because they felt they did not deserve them because they were just doing their duty but most because they just did not want to be reminded of the terrible sights and sounds of war..not to mention the mental stress..it is sad that family life did not turn out good for your family however your dad did do his bit and must be applauded for that...It had its consequences Lyn - which people didn't tend to talk about. Along with other life's challenges - losing a father and sister when he was age 11 - then losing friends in the RAF probably impacted enormously on him. I only knew him until I was about 20, then we had no contact.
War service undoubtedly changed people, sometimes for the worse. My mum claimed he changed after the war because he didn't want to leave the RAF after being medically retired (because of a flying accident in training), around the time of the photo. And she was convinced his anti- interrogation training made him the way he was. Whether that's true I don't know, but their marriage fell apart. It's really only since talking to relations that I got to understand all this as I found out more about him. Like most ex-military, he didn't talk about his war experiences.