Every year on Remembrance Day, we are reminded not just of those we’ve lost, those who fought, but those who we are going to lose.
In recent years, this has become particularly poignant because there are very few World War 2 veterans still alive who can tell us what it was like to experience the war.
Colin Bell, 102, is one of those men who flew in a wooden Mosquito over Berlin at the height of the war as part of a Pathfinder unit that lit the way for the heavy bombers behind.
Colin spoke exclusively to the Express about his experience flying through fire and what Generation Z can take from World War 2 into the future.
The main lesson that Generation Z and beyond can learn says Colin is that appeasement is not a good policy.
Colin explained: “The message is appeasement never pays. You’ve got to keep yourself so well armed that no despot will attack you.
“Despots attack weak nations and democracies by and large with possibly the exception of America keeping themselves in a state of low defence. It’s not a good idea, I’d go so far as to say it’s insane.
“During peacetime whenever a government is short of money, the treasuries usually encourage them to cut back on arms and that’s not a good road to follow.
“It is far cheaper to keep yourself armed up to the teeth than it is to fight a war putting to one side the casualties and miseries that occur when war breaks out.”
Colin said this bias towards appeasement before World War 2 came as a result of the national trauma that permeated the country following World War 1, one which influenced his parents as he flew over Berlin.
“My father and mother’s generation was very appeasement inclined, I can track that right the way through the war years and right up to the time when the Axis powers surrendered,” explained Colin.
He added: “I span a very long time and I’m glad I do because it enables me to speak with some degree of authority. I was there, that’s the point.”
It is for this reason that Rishi Sharma’s project of recording interviews with World War 2 allied veterans is so important says Colin.
He said: “I think it’s a very important project. I think it’s important to keep the younger generation informed of what happened to ensure their survival and the survival of mankind and the Western world as we know it.
“It’s an educational project in every sense. I hope future generations learn from this. It was something that we had to do for our survival. That is the important thing duty, yes, but survival was the name of the game.”
Some of Colin’s experiences are recorded in a book written by the son of his co-pilot Doug Redmond.
Colin said the title ‘Bloody Terrified’ was inspired by a near miss over Berlin which saw both engines cut out after a shell burst beneath them.
Colin recalled: “Doug asked me what we should do which I thought was a silly question so I said, ‘There’s nothing we can do’ but I put the plane into a glide.
“I said we just have to wait. All that happened really was that the shell by lifting us up had interfered with the fuel supply and when the fuel supply restored itself, the power came onto the negines and our propellors started working normally and we pulled away from Berlin.
“I leaned across to Doug and said to him ‘You weren’t frightened were you, Doug?’ He said, ‘No I wasn’t, I was bloody terrified’.
It was these final words that Ian Redmond chose these words as the title of his book about Colin Bell and Doug Redmond’s experiences.
