January 1st 1945 Attack on Allied Airfields
by the Luftwaffe.
It came the morning of New Year's Day 1945, everything
seemed normal and streetcars were running in spite of the extreme cold. I got off the streetcar at the end of the
loop just a short distance from the main gate. My eyes immediately aimed above and noticed a whole squadron of
fighter aircraft swooping down on the airfield strafing everything in sight. At first I thought to myself our pilots
sure had a great New Year’s Eve party. It only took a couple of seconds to realize what was happening. We were
under attack by the German Luftwaffe and being strafed. I had just enough time to reach one of the buildings in
front of me and headed straight for the basement for shelter. I heard exploding bombs and fifty caliber bullets
hitting the building. The attack lasted about twelve minutes causing death, destruction of spitfires and injuries
among the ground staff. One of our pilots was killed while trying to take off. (Incidentally the report concerning
the attack was typed by myself and is shown here).
It was revealed that most allied airfields
had been attacked simultaneously. Suffice to mention that the German air force suffered more severe losses compared
to ours. I remember coming out of that "safe house" an extremely shaken but lucky guy to be alive. This
New Year's Day 1945 will be remembered as long as I live and even today 65 years later I can see myself at that
location on that day. Since landing in Normandy we were subjected to numerous "close calls", but this
one was too close for comfort. I guess I can say with certainty that it was the closest that I have come to leaving
this planet in all my 86 years on it.
If "D" Day was "The Longest Day" as portrayed in the Hollywood movie, these 12 minutes at Evere
on January 1, 1945 felt like 12 hours. My recollection of New Year's Day is a visit to my grandfather's farm at
Rockliffe Annex where the whole family met and a small orchestra was soon put together with a piano, couple of
violins, guitars, even "spoons". That was New Year’s Day before the war.
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