![\"Self-sacrifice:](\"https:\/\/stephensnelling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2013-06-26-12.36.49.jpg\")
<\/a>Self-sacrifice: Arthur Aaron VC, DFM.<\/p><\/div>\n
The image of Aaron, his mutilated face covered in a bloody field dressing, one bandaged arm strapped across his injured chest, trying to land his bullet-riddled Stirling bomber on a strange desert airstrip far from his west Norfolk base stayed with me.<\/p>\n
Years later, while working as a journalist with the Eastern Daily Press, I was fortunate enough to be able to interview two of the men who were on that aircraft as it made its uneasy descent on Bone airfield. Malcolm \u2018Mitch\u2019 Mitchem, the bomber\u2019s flight engineer, and Jimmy \u2018Rich\u2019 Richmond, the mid-upper gunner, were the last survivors of O for Oboe and their stories and correspondence confirmed the veracity of Barker\u2019s grand rendering of the story.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Survivors: the crew of O for Oboe who made it back alive, l to r, Tom McCabe, \u2018Rich\u2019 Richmond, Allan Larden, \u2018Mitch\u2019 Mitchem and \u2018Jimmy\u2019 Guy.<\/p><\/div>\n
They still had the greatest admiration for their \u2018skipper\u2019, whose great spirit and determination in spite of his appalling injuries, was not to be denied and was ultimately recognised by the award of a posthumous Victoria Cross, one of two made to airmen flying out of Downham Market during the Second World War.<\/p>\n
As \u2018Mitch\u2019 Mitchem put it, \u2018He was so full of character and courage\u2019.<\/p>\n
Much the same could be said of all those who flew aboard O for Oboe on that memorable night 70 years ago. For after Aaron was critically wounded by \u2018friendly fire\u2019 during the run-in to the target over Turin, it was largely left to Mitchem, Richmond and the aircraft\u2019s Canadian bomb-aimer Allan Larden to fly the crippled bomber hundreds of miles across the Mediterranean in the hope of reaching safety.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Bomber: a striking air-to-air shot of a Stirling.<\/p><\/div>\n
Given that none of them had ever flown an aircraft without supervision, they could have been forgiven for deciding to parachute to safety, but none were prepared to abandon their desperately wounded pilot any more than he was prepared to surrender responsibility for bringing his crew to a safe landfall.<\/p>\n
The result was a minor epic that resulted in no fewer than four gallantry awards, a figure that should have been more in my humble opinion. For of all the myriad heroic missions flown out of Norfolk by British and American airmen during the second world war I consider this to have been the bravest feat of all.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Back at base: Jimmy \u2018Rich\u2019 Richmond, seated far right, with Tom McCabe, another member of O for Oboe\u2019s crew, with ground crew at Downham Market air base in 1943.<\/p><\/div>\n
Others may disagree, but you can judge for yourself if you read the Eastern Daily Press Weekend supplement this coming Saturday when I re-tell the Arthur Aaron\u2019s remarkable story as a 70th anniversary salute not only to an act of unsurpassed selflessness but to the splendid endurance displayed by each and every member of O for Oboe\u2019s crew as they transformed a \u2018mission impossible\u2019 into an unlikely triumph against the odds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I can\u2019t be sure precisely when I first read of Arthur Aaron\u2019s extraordinary self-sacrifice. I can, however, remember the book his story featured in. It was Strike Hard, Strike Sure, by Ralph Barker, a former RAF officer turned Daily Express … Continue reading