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I cannot remember cousin John and only can go on my mothers stories and some photographs. The first photo shows John with his older brother Billy set together. Billy is stouter and appears more serious, John has a slimmer build and appears full of mischief. John was born in 1922 and at the age of ll entered Keighley Boys, Grammar School.Somewhere along the line he pinched a lorry in the village of Haworth. In 1950 lorries were rare, so rarer still in 1930s. John drove the lorry to Keighley, 3 miles away where it ran out of petrol, the owner caught up and I believe gave him a good hiding.
In 1942 John joined the RAF and was sent to train for his pilots wings in what was then Rhodesia. His brother Billy also joined the RAF. I have two photos. The one of Billy shows a young man, smiling in RAF uniform. The one of John shows him in a pilots flack jacket. He does look handsome, and smiling. John served in Libya and it is from there he may have gone to Egypt and brought a bit of a pyramid back to Haworth, where I am told he bounced me on his knee.
John returned to his unit which moved up into Italy where as a pilot officer he flew a giant bomber into Poland to drop supplies to the Resistance. I have a second photo of John with a friend, both in pilot RAF uniform, both smiling , possibly taken in Libya or Italy. On the reverse it says "All my love, John, June 1944". It does not say where the photo was taken. I have a second of Billy, now a corporal and looking much more serious, but no idea of the date.
Johns squadron was then sent to bomb the Herman Goerring munitions factory in Austria in August of 1944. Sad to say the bomber was attacked by two night fighters and blown out of the sky. Six of the crew were killed, but a RAF sergeant parachuted out and was taken prisoner. I have a photo of the sergeant by the graves of John and the five other crew members. There are two crosses with three names on each and the cemetary is at Klagenfurt, southern Austria.
Rather amazingly by cousin Helen and her husband now live there and have recently sent a photograph of the grave of Cousin John, now he has his own headstone. He has never grown old and possibly died loving the live he then led. Cousin Billy survived.
Recently this year I met by chance a lady who must be nearly 80 years old. "David", she said, " I really fancied your cousin John, he was so handsome, but he was so wild , so I never dared ask him out. You could never tell what would have happened." As a young lady I remeber she herself was very attractive. With these words she walked away.

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