As Flight Sergeant Ivor William Ernest Foster celebrates his 100th birthday on 16th August, he will wonder that he has reached this marvellous milestone, when many of comrades, with whom he served during the Second World War, did not. Ivor was a mid-upper gunner in a Lancaster, serving in Bomber Command, one in a crew of seven on this enormous four-engine aircraft, almost certainly the mightiest in the RAF’s arsenal. Rarely a day has gone by since the end of the war that Ivor has not thought of his crew members, all of whom have now passed away, and of the closeness of their friendships – trust he described as essential to their survival whilst taking part in perilous raids over heavily-defended German cities, particularly towards the end of the War.
Ivor Foster has a photograph of him with his crew hanging on the wall of his bedroom at the care home where he now resides, in Plymouth. He spoke to me particularly respectfully of his pilot, Philip Gray, for whom he has huge admiration because – quite simply – he brought him and his friends of course – safely home, operation after operation. There was, however, one occasion that his friendship with Philip was tested to the limit. It was during a training flight on 19th December 1944, in very chilly skies over Cornwall; Ivor told me the weather was appalling and the air temperature outside their aircraft, at some 21,000 ft, was – 47 degrees. “So cold” said Ivor “that the heaters in the body of the aircraft were beginning to cool down” and “so cold” that Ivor, and the rear gunner, plugged in their electric flying suits, something they were only permitted to do when it was dangerously below freezing. But Ivor said “that was the night my suit went for a burton.” He described shouting in agony about how cold he was to Philip, asking for permission to move from his turret to the body of the aircraft. But Philip asked him not to, because as air-gunner Ivor could see what was happening all around them and he said to Ivor “a shout from you might save our lives.” In the warmth of the mess later that evening Ivor quickly understood why Philip had advised as he had, accepting he had to think of his whole crew – not just the ‘chilly boy at the top.’
Another of Ivor’s most enduring Second World War flying memories was taking part in a ‘1000 bomber raid’ over Essen on 11th March 1945. His Lancaster was one of 149, in addition to 900 other aircraft (mostly Halifax’s and Mosquitoes) deployed to drop bombs and explosives over bomb-making factories and communication hubs; essential raids conducted by Bomber Command to bring about the end of the War. Ivor told me throughout most of the five-hour raid his plane was one of the highest in the air, and the sky below him was so full of aircraft he hardly saw the ground below for the whole raid.
Ivor Foster’s Second World War instilled him a need to continue in service – in the months that followed the end of the War in Europe he was posted to RAF Habbaniya in Iraq, employed as an equipment assistant, in charge of a bakery, butchery and slaughterhouse; but in 1951 he resigned and became a policemen – promoted eventually to sergeant – then spent his final working years caring for mentally ill adults with his wife, Bernice.
The 80th anniversary of Victory in Japan Day, on 15th August, and Ivor’s 100th birthday, will, I feel – knowing Ivor as I do and as privileged as I am to do so – will be equally bitter-sweet. Ivor will think of his fallen comrades on the 15th August – those who died during the War, and the many who have died since – and on his birthday he will think of Bernice, to whom he was married for 65 years until she died in 2012; and his two sons who sadly, too, have pre-deceased him.
However, Ivor has, since the end of the war, felt a deep sense of injustice that members of Bomber Command were not awarded a medal for their service. He has campaigned strongly for this ‘wrong’ to be corrected, not least of all because the dangers faced by the Bomber Command ‘boys’ were some of the most perilous of all who served in the war; one in three crews did not return from operations and over 55,000 of the Command’s 125,000 men were killed.
In all of our conversations, Ivor says to me that after every operation during the War after landing safely, Philip Gray would say to them “Lady Luck was with us again.” ‘Lady Luck’ has been with me, as I have been able to get to know Ivor, as she has been with so many who have known him, and who have been helped by him and cared for by him, in many different ways.
Regardless of the medal, the lack of which I know has been so sad for Ivor, I hope Ivor – and those still with us who served as bravely as he did during the perilous years of the Second World War – will appreciate more than ever as the 80th anniversary of the end of the War is commemorated of the nation’s gratitude for their amazing courage, service and resilience.
The world is a better place because of people like Ivor Foster – Happy Birthday Ivor and Thank You.
(Ivor’s wartime story can be read about more fully in a forthcoming children’s Second World War book ‘Their Second World War’, published by Key Publishing – shop.keypublishing.com/products/their-second-world-war)
