80 years ago today, this sweet face belonging to 21 year old Pilot Officer Jack Feldman took off with 419 (Moose) Squadron RCAF on his 18th operational run with Bomber Command.
An unimaginable 18 times, this gallant, eager lad who loved helping people, had climbed with his crew into another bomber and taken off after sunset, wondering if he would see the sunrise tomorrow.
Born in Toronto, to Jewish parents who’d come to Canada after his Dad Albert had served with the Royal Fusiliers during WW1, Jack as a boy was a keen member of the Boy Scouts, and the Royal Life Saving Society.
As soon as Jack turned 18, he enlisted into the Air Force in August 1941 and earned his wings in England in the summer of 1944.
On 29th December 1944, he was acting as Flight Engineer in the Lancaster “Q for Queenie”, part of a massed raid of 324 Lancs and 22 Mosquitoes directed at the oil refineries and coal mines around Scholven and Buer, Germany.
That night, conditions were tricky, the target shrouded in thick cloud.
Jack’s Lancaster was hit by flak, exploded and crashed, 12 miles north-east of Essen. All but one member of Q for Queenie’s crew were killed.
Flight Sgt McLeod was somehow blown clear, parachuted down, and was taken POW.
At 21, Jack had been braver, more often, than most of us will ever have to be in our whole lifetimes.
As a volunteer with the Royal Life Saving Society, he was trained to save lives at sea.
On 29th December 1944, he gave his life to save us all from drowning.
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