Senator the Hon. Robert Hill
Parliament House, Canberra, ACT. 2601

Dear Senator Hill,
I have raised the question of my entitlement to the Aircrew Europe Star and medal, complete with France Germany Star bar, for some years, and to date I have been bumping my head against a brick wall.

I refer to a letter of 29th April, 2001, from the Prime Minister’s office, which I tore up in disgust, “wherein it was stated on line 10 that the “France and Germany Star” was for ground crew”. I am amazed that many aircrew veterans who flew on operations over France and Germany are wearing a medal “France and Germany Star” which according to the letter we are not entitled to wear.

Aircrew veterans do not wear an AIRCREW EUROPE Star and ribbon because they were not in time to qualify, despite the fact that they were in time to die as AIRCREW OVER EUROPE. Our Government has never seen fit to give the veterans the medal which they so rightfully earned Why should our Government accept that aircrew who flew before a certain date are entitled to the Aircrew Europe Star (a specific award) whilst those who came only days or weeks later flying the same operations were denied the Aircrew Europe Star.

Medals have always been an issue and one which Governments always seem to sidestep. The survivors of the Bomber Command operations in Europe were entitled to the following medals

AIR CREW EUROPE STAR
Granted for operational flying from UK bases over Europe from 3/9/39 to 5/6/44
Bars awarded if service in - Atlantic - France Germany
(If the recipient flew two months operational flying over UK and Europe before 6th June 1944 then he qualified Aircrew Europe Star with France Germany bar) however if his operational flying wasn`t in the two months, he did not qualify for the Aircrew Europe Star but qualified for the France Germany Star only)

FRANCE GERMANY STAR
Granted for service in France, Belguim, Holland & Germany between 6/6/44-8/5/45
and for service afloat in support of land operation and operation by aircrew over Europe also qualified. Bars awarded - Atlantic
(Seems the aircrew part added as an afterthought, although not very relevant)

It is apparent that any Air Force mustering serving in Europe was entitled to the same medals as the aircrew of Bomber Command. It is difficult to compare the service dangers of the flying across enemy occupied territory for which those who flew before D-Day and qualified for the AIRCREW EUROPE STAR to that of pushing a pen across a piece of paper while flying an office desk for which they and the aircrew after D-Day received the FRANCE GERMANY STAR. Aircrew all did the same flying, this discrimination is of the highest order and was brought about mainly by the age factor, or more importantly when they arrived and started on operations.

Following D-Day and for some months after 6th June 1944 the Bomber Command casualties were greater than the casualties suffered by the British 2nd Army, so any Government worth its salt would have seen that those airmen who served in this area were suitably rewarded in their campaign awards.

If the Parliamentarians can have the big party to remember, the Army can have a big party for its 100 years, and the Vietnam veterans have special recognition, what is lacking for the ex-flyers of Bomber Command to receive a measure of recognition?

Our record is on the board, written in blood, sweat and tears, but do we have to wait until we are 100 years old before we are recognized in Australia.

Seems like another episode of the Anzac story, “wait till most of them are dead before they are given any recognition”.
Bomber Command veterans were 2% of all Australian volunteers in the 2nd world war and almost 23% of the casualties.
The airmen , the cream of this country, following Dunkirk, together with their fellow counterparts in Bomber Command, bore the brunt of the war against Germany and but for them England may not have survived as a nation.
Every one of them was a volunteer and were sent to the theatre of war at the Australian Government’s direction. Even after their homeland was being threatened the Australian Government was still sending aircrew to the European theatre of war, where many of them received white feathers from Australia as a token of cowardice because they had apparently deserted the fight against the Japanese.

As Bomber Command veterans we returned to an Australian indifference, which still exists today. Why, we ask, have Bomber Command veterans not been recognized and been given their just entitlement medal and ribbon for the record and history they carved in blood over Germany for five long years. Why even the Lancaster “G” for George in the Canberra Museum nearly wasn’t there due to the official indifference.

Yours faithfully,

Laurie Woods

Ps. 7th February, 2003.    

I seem to have waited two years or so for a reply. I sure am glad I didn’t fly with these people or I would be sprouting wings now instead of waiting for a little satisfaction on ribbon entitlement for which I qualified. There would be some couple of hundred Australians who are also entitled and should have their medals adjusted but of course at our age we are dying off like flies so a little longer and we will all be gone and their will be no need to fix our disatisfactions.
There is also the complaint from most airmen who flew in Bomber Command that there is no specific medal for this service. (Acknowledged as the most dangerous and deadly of all time).

Lancaster veterans call for medal

Mr White 'didn't know where the bombs were dropping'

World War Two veterans are calling on the Ministry of Defence to recognise the achievements of Bomber Command.

Criticism of the attacks on civilian areas of Dresden, Cologne and Berlin has left many veterans feeling victimised.

And at a gathering marking the 60th anniversary of the Avro Lancaster's first combat mission, former crew members said those who risked and sacrificed their lives should be given campaign medals.

Casualties high

The night raids on occupied Europe were launched by the then head of Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshall Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris.

Many of the 30 former Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots, wireless operators, navigators and gunners at the Imperial War Museum's aviation section in Duxford, Cambridgeshire, also took the opportunity to climb into a Lancaster for the first time in more than 50 years.

Navigator Fred Norton was the sole survivor in an eight-man crew when his Lancaster was shot down over Cologne in January 1945.

He spent the final months of the war in a prison camp.

And the 88-year-old feels it is "very wrong" that no campaign medals have been awarded.

"The casualty rate was very high," he explained.

"Yet we got nothing.