August 20, 2012
An important day for our family: The temperature reaches 37 degrees
Today was a very important day for us and for our family. We left the camp ground early to beat the heat and made our way to the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Sage. We were carrying some of my mother Nancy’s ashes.
In late February 1941 my Grandmother received the telegram she had dreaded getting. It told her that on the 21st February her youngest son Andrew had been shot down on a raid over Germany and that he was missing and feared dead. Andrew was just 25 years old, I was 2.
About two months later Mum received a letter from Andy, it was written on 20th February just 1 day before that fatal last raid. Andrew was a rear gunner on a Wellington and was stationed at an airport in Norfolk, East Anglia. His letter brings the horror of the situation into sharp focus. “I have about 8 more trips to do as a gunner and then I will get a month’s rest leave. The number of raids required to earn this rest is 30. It may seem a very small amount but it takes a lot of doing and only about 50% of the chaps ever complete their raids. The other 50% are either shot down or their nerve goes west”. ……... “Out of 20 of us that sailed from Auckland, four have been killed, two are prisoners of war and four have been grounded owing to crashes and nerves. It is a year today since we sailed and we would not have believed it if we had been told that there would only have been half of us fit for flying within 12 months.” There is optimism and a longing for home in this letter. “However with both Ham (my father) and I up against the Jerry we can finish it up pretty quickly now and come back to civilized life. My craving is for the warm weather and the sandy beaches of New Zealand. I could also enjoy a nice fresh meal for a change with plenty of butter and sugar. The food over in England is not as good as we have been used too but I suppose we can’t grumble too much about it.”
It was not to be, Andy was never to enjoy the glorious beaches of Poverty Bay again and Grandma was to receive that dreadful telegram. On that night on the 21st of February he was on his 23rd raid, they were attacking the German U Boat in installations in Bremerhaven, the air defenses were very heavy . On their return they were shot down and his body washed up on one of the outer islands. With their amazing efficiency the Germans brought his body here to this wonderful peaceful place, the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Sage where he lies with 969 others,34 of them New Zealanders.
Although I was only two I can recall the distress it caused Mum. Mum died at the age of 93 and her memory of Andy stayed very much alive as she talked of their tennis parties and the times they spent body surfing on the sandy beaches of Poverty Bay. It seems right that some if her ashes should come here to be with him.
I wonder what Andy would think of his 73year old niece here in Sage. I was the first and at the time Andy died the only one of the next generation, I was the sole beneficiary of his will. When Ken was a final year Medical Student we were married and had a small baby, I could only work a little and Andy’s money went a long way to help us. Thank you Andy.
The futility of wars is so obvious. Here we are enjoying cycling in this beautiful and well organised country and delighting in the friendliness and kindness of its people. It is only such a short time ago that a megalomaniac politician caused such heartbreak and destruction not only to his own people but to those so far away.
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Today's ride: 46 km (29 miles)
Total: 871 km (541 miles)
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