Make belated award (From The Oxford Times)

Make belated award

8:20am Thursday 19th April 2012 in Letters

Sir –The unveiling of the Bomber Command Memorial in London on June 28 will provide the perfect opportunity for a formal announcement that, at last, a Bomber Command Campaign Medal (BCCM) is to be awarded.

Special committees have been appointed in Canada and in London to review how honours and awards have been handled in the past and to make recommendations.

But the outcome of such reviews will not become known for months, perhaps years. More urgent action from our PM David Cameron is required after discussion with PM Harper of Canada.

The BCCM award requested by Harris and supported by Churchill was refused in 1946. I have never met anyone who really knows why. Harris himself, commander-in-chief of Bomber Command, refused any further honours for himself in protest that his personnel were to be denied a campaign medal.

Other Commonwealth countries contributed volunteer aircrew and ground staff to serve in Bomber Command and they will be sending representatives to attend the unveiling of our memorial.

There is much public and parliamentary support worldwide for the BCCM award and this would be greatly appreciated by those survivors who cannot, for any reason, visit their own national memorials or come to UK to see ours.

It is surely the responsibility of Britain to make this award now for all who served in Bomber Command.

I hope that Rt Hon David Cameron, PM and MP for Witney, will take note of my comments above.

Jim Wright, Ex-Second World War navigator on 61, 630 and 97 Squadrons, Abingdon