Gilly
09-10-2010, 08:12 AM
The RAF Bomber Command Memorial will finally pay a public debt of gratitude to the 55,573 aircrew who bravely took to the skies in World War II to defend us against the oppression of the Nazis – and never came back.
With support from the Heritage Foundation,the RAF Bomber Command Association is building a memorial in Green Park, central London to honour those who sacrificed everything so that we may be free today.
Planning permission was granted by Westminster City Council in May 2010 but we need funds NOW so that construction can begin while there are still some veterans of RAF Bomber Command alive to witness it.
As most of the veterans are well into their 80s and 90s, time is of the essence for the men and women who flew with and supported RAF Bomber Command in WWII. Sadly, more than 70 of them are passing away every month.
And we're against the clock in terms of getting the memorial itself built. We are required to have a further £1.9m in place by the end of October 2010 in order to meet building and planning regulations, and to meet the deadline of unveiling the memorial in 2011.
Aircrews within RAF Bomber Command were all volunteers with an average age of just 19. The majority of these 125,000 volunteers came from the United Kingdom, but young men also came from all corners of the Commonwealth and Allied countries.
Day after day they bravely took to the skies to not only defend us when all looked lost, but to finally turn the course of World War II. They did this knowing that many of them would never come back
Until now, the collective role of RAF Bomber Command in freeing Europe from Hitler’s tyrannical rule has never been publicly recognised. Apart from defending the United Kingdom against German aerial attacks, they took the war to Germany - disrupting the industrial production of weapons and carrying out daylight raids against shipping targets.
However, RAF Bomber Command also dropped 6,680 tonnes of food into the Netherlands to help the Dutch population who were suffering from famine and starvation. They were also responsible for humanitarian missions to drop life saving aid to civilians and resistance forces in occupied territories.
Bomber Command suffered the greatest percentage of casualties, accounting for 10% of all fatalities in WWII.
The RAF Bomber Command Memorial will serve as a reminder of the lives that were lost, and as a place for family members to remember loved ones, some of whom have never had a formal place of rest.
Robin Gibb, President of the Heritage Foundation has been campaigning for Bomber Command for the last few years. It has been a childhood dream of Robin’s to one day create a memorial to the sacrifice of RAF Bomber Command and the role it played in securing freedom on a national, European and international basis.
Taken from the website www.bombercommand.com
But.....
Taken from The Daily Mail- 7th September 2010
Politicians have called on Britain to abandon plans to build a memorial to RAF bomber crews.
Backed by Bild, their country's biggest daily newspaper, they said the idea was offensive to the 25,000 victims of the raid on Dresden in 1945.
'This memorial injures the feelings of Dresdeners and is utterly tasteless,' said Holger Zastrow, a Liberal party councillor in the city.
She is visiting the capital to open an exhibition detailing the bombing of London, her city and that of its twin, Coventry.
Bild ran a story yesterday with the English headline 'Please say NO,' adding: 'Today the mayoress has her chance to tell her official colleagues in Britain that she, like the queen, is not amused. Dresden has every reason not to be.
'This is a good opportunity for Orosz to express to her London colleagues the opinions of Dresdeners about the bomber monument.'
Over two days and nights in February 1945 British and American bombers turned the city into a sea of flames and rubble.
The victims - mostly women and children - died in savage firestorms whipped up by the intense heat of 2,400 tons of high explosive and 1,500 tons of incendiary bombs.
The raid was controversial because it came near the end of the war.
There is also debate about the value of Dresden as a military target.
The controversy was stoked in the early years by claims that up to 250,000 civilians had been killed.
But an official report published this year after five years of research by German historians concluded that the casualty figure was 25,000.
Ursula Elsner, 80, was a child when the bombers destroyed Dresden. She said: 'We rely on our mayor to use the strongest diplomatic language possible to express our strong concerns about this monument.'
Now writing a book of eyewitness accounts to the raids, she added: 'I find these plans both sad and macabre.
'Such a monument justifies the bombing attacks and damages the mutual reconciliation process of the past few years between Britain and Germany.'
The £3.5million RAF memorial is for the Piccadilly entrance to Green Park in London. Planners at Westminster City Council approved the proposal in May.
Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb, a key supporter, has said: 'Anyone speaking against it should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.
'The whole world, including Germany, is free today because of Bomber Command's sacrifice.'
Built from Portlandstone, it will be open to the sky with the entrance made from sections of a Halifax bomber shot down during the war. A sculpture inside marks the loss of the plane's seven crew
With support from the Heritage Foundation,the RAF Bomber Command Association is building a memorial in Green Park, central London to honour those who sacrificed everything so that we may be free today.
Planning permission was granted by Westminster City Council in May 2010 but we need funds NOW so that construction can begin while there are still some veterans of RAF Bomber Command alive to witness it.
As most of the veterans are well into their 80s and 90s, time is of the essence for the men and women who flew with and supported RAF Bomber Command in WWII. Sadly, more than 70 of them are passing away every month.
And we're against the clock in terms of getting the memorial itself built. We are required to have a further £1.9m in place by the end of October 2010 in order to meet building and planning regulations, and to meet the deadline of unveiling the memorial in 2011.
Aircrews within RAF Bomber Command were all volunteers with an average age of just 19. The majority of these 125,000 volunteers came from the United Kingdom, but young men also came from all corners of the Commonwealth and Allied countries.
Day after day they bravely took to the skies to not only defend us when all looked lost, but to finally turn the course of World War II. They did this knowing that many of them would never come back
Until now, the collective role of RAF Bomber Command in freeing Europe from Hitler’s tyrannical rule has never been publicly recognised. Apart from defending the United Kingdom against German aerial attacks, they took the war to Germany - disrupting the industrial production of weapons and carrying out daylight raids against shipping targets.
However, RAF Bomber Command also dropped 6,680 tonnes of food into the Netherlands to help the Dutch population who were suffering from famine and starvation. They were also responsible for humanitarian missions to drop life saving aid to civilians and resistance forces in occupied territories.
Bomber Command suffered the greatest percentage of casualties, accounting for 10% of all fatalities in WWII.
The RAF Bomber Command Memorial will serve as a reminder of the lives that were lost, and as a place for family members to remember loved ones, some of whom have never had a formal place of rest.
Robin Gibb, President of the Heritage Foundation has been campaigning for Bomber Command for the last few years. It has been a childhood dream of Robin’s to one day create a memorial to the sacrifice of RAF Bomber Command and the role it played in securing freedom on a national, European and international basis.
Taken from the website www.bombercommand.com
But.....
Taken from The Daily Mail- 7th September 2010
Politicians have called on Britain to abandon plans to build a memorial to RAF bomber crews.
Backed by Bild, their country's biggest daily newspaper, they said the idea was offensive to the 25,000 victims of the raid on Dresden in 1945.
'This memorial injures the feelings of Dresdeners and is utterly tasteless,' said Holger Zastrow, a Liberal party councillor in the city.
She is visiting the capital to open an exhibition detailing the bombing of London, her city and that of its twin, Coventry.
Bild ran a story yesterday with the English headline 'Please say NO,' adding: 'Today the mayoress has her chance to tell her official colleagues in Britain that she, like the queen, is not amused. Dresden has every reason not to be.
'This is a good opportunity for Orosz to express to her London colleagues the opinions of Dresdeners about the bomber monument.'
Over two days and nights in February 1945 British and American bombers turned the city into a sea of flames and rubble.
The victims - mostly women and children - died in savage firestorms whipped up by the intense heat of 2,400 tons of high explosive and 1,500 tons of incendiary bombs.
The raid was controversial because it came near the end of the war.
There is also debate about the value of Dresden as a military target.
The controversy was stoked in the early years by claims that up to 250,000 civilians had been killed.
But an official report published this year after five years of research by German historians concluded that the casualty figure was 25,000.
Ursula Elsner, 80, was a child when the bombers destroyed Dresden. She said: 'We rely on our mayor to use the strongest diplomatic language possible to express our strong concerns about this monument.'
Now writing a book of eyewitness accounts to the raids, she added: 'I find these plans both sad and macabre.
'Such a monument justifies the bombing attacks and damages the mutual reconciliation process of the past few years between Britain and Germany.'
The £3.5million RAF memorial is for the Piccadilly entrance to Green Park in London. Planners at Westminster City Council approved the proposal in May.
Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb, a key supporter, has said: 'Anyone speaking against it should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.
'The whole world, including Germany, is free today because of Bomber Command's sacrifice.'
Built from Portlandstone, it will be open to the sky with the entrance made from sections of a Halifax bomber shot down during the war. A sculpture inside marks the loss of the plane's seven crew