D-Day Veteran visits RAF Waddington
by Lindsey Askin.
Date: 28 May 2014
Australian WWII veteran Denis Kelly (Aged 91) revisited RAF Waddington for the first time in nearly 70 years for a trip down memory lane and to see first hand the efforts of a dedicated group of personnel working to keep the history of RAF Waddington alive in its Heritage Centre.
During the early 1940’s Dennis was stationed on 467 Squadron at RAF Waddington flying as a wireless operator on Lancaster Bombers. On 19 July 1944 he flew a mission in Lancaster R5485 PO-F which had been tasked with bombing railway junctions in Revigny. The aircraft came under enemy fire and Denis was forced to bail out not far from the village of Pargny-sur-Saulx before his aircraft crashed. He hid his parachute under some scrub and nursing a broken ankle, crawled to the woods to hide overnight.
“I slept in the woods until daylight and then I crawled for about 3 miles until I was eventually picked up by a Frenchman who took me to his house where I received food and shelter until I was smuggled to another town for proper medical attention”
With the Germans retreating Denis was finally liberated from his safe camp on 1st September 1944 by the 2nd Cavalry, 4th Armored Division, US Third Army.
Having travelled all the way from Australia, Denis also has plans to visit the Imperial War Museum in London to see the fuselage of Lancaster Bomber “Old Fred”; an aircraft which Dennis flew two D-Day missions on. From there he will travel to France to meet the families of those that aided his escape from the Germans in 1944.
“I was amazed at the display in the Heritage Centre and enjoyed it immensely. It reminded me of a very important part of my life and I am happy that I have my son here on the visit to share the experience with and I feel sorry I didn’t do it earlier” said Denis.
An Amazing Story
Squadron Leader Dave Northeast, Officer Commanding Force Development Squadron at RAF Waddington which runs the Heritage Centre said:
“It’s a pleasure to host such a distinguished visitor as Flight Sergeant Kelly. He has an amazing story to tell and we’re privileged and humbled that he has made the journey to visit his old station.”
Before he left Denis took a moment to lay a wreath at the memorial garden in memory of many of his friends that he served alongside who weren’t as fortunate as him.
RAF Waddington Heritage Centre
The RAF Waddington Heritage Centre exists to preserve and promote the history of RAF Waddington, its units and personnel.
The Heritage Centre is run by a small team of highly dedicated volunteers, both Service and Civilian.
It preserves and displays a range of documents, images and relevant artefacts, with the aim of providing an educational facility for both service personnel and civilians, promoting further research and preserving our history for future generations.
