In the summer of 1940, four men of my family volunteered to serve in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Two years later, three were dead and one was a prisoner of war.
F/Sgt Joey Jacobson (air observer) served in 106 Bomber Squadron and was killed on a raid on Munster on 28 January 1942. He is buried in Lichtenvoorde, Netherlands.
Sgt Moe Usher (wireless operator/air gunner) served in 35 Bomber Squadron and was killed on a raid on the battleship Tirpitz in Norway on 31 March 1942. He is buried in Lerwick, Shetland.
W/O Ray Silver (air observer) served in 10 Bomber Squadron and was shot down on the “Thousand Raid” on Cologne on 31 May 1942. He was captured and spent nearly three years in Stalag Luft 3. He survived the long march of PoWs across Germany in January 1945.
Sgt Jack Tritt (air observer) served in 425 Bomber Squadron and was killed in a non-combat air exercise accident of uncertain cause in Essex, England, on 23 November 1942. He is buried in Southend-on-Sea, England.
They were the men I never got to know: the youngest of my parent’s cousins, the ones who I would have called “uncle” and the ones who, had they returned, could have passed their experience and understanding of a very different time and place to me directly.
At this time each year I think of them with gratitude, sorrow, loss, and amazement. I was barely a year old when they went down. I owe my freedom and good fortune over my long life to them and to the many thousands of Canadians who, like them, put their lives on hold and at risk when they were barely twenty years old for a cause they knew was just and necessary. And I am forever grateful for their legacy of letters, diaries, and photos that inspired me to discover and write about their world and their lives to the best of my ability.