I AM 91 years old and served as an RAF wireless operator in Broadwell control tower all through the D-Day landings, the Rhine crossing, and their aftermath, culminating in the repatriation of prisoners of war from Europe at the end of the war. Two squadrons transported 952 troops to two dropping zones in Normandy on June 6, 1944. Their dispatch was co-ordinated, without a hitch, by one man sitting in the top of the control tower in a glass cubicle. Later that day, 31 Dakotas on returning from France were again hitched up to gliders and flew back to Normandy, followed by 10 solo Dakotas carrying drop-containers full of supplies. This shuttling back and forth, returning with wounded men, went on for weeks. Casualties were quickly transferred to nearby Bradwell Grove or moved on to Oxford.

In September Broadwell’s Dakotas towed Horsas to Arnem, returning with much flack damage. They were quickly repaired and put back in service. In March 1945, both squadrons flew to Cosford to take part in Operation Varsity – the Rhine crossing – and soon after that they began to return with repatriated POWs. An important function of the control tower personnel was to priorities and stack returning aircraft, thus avoiding delaying casualties reaching hospital. My lasting memory, though, is of the blacked faces of those young men, festooned with ammunition, singing loudly as they boarded the aircraft and gliders. This was the last time many of them would stand on British soil. RAF Broadwell played an important role in defeating Hitler and the control tower was the beating heart at its centre. Whatever form its preservation may take, Broadwell’s watch office, to give it its correct name, ought to be preserved as a lasting tribute to those brave young men whose life, and death, once centred upon it. We at least owe them that.

L JEACOCK

Ratley

Near Banbury