Young, Stupid and Invincible

Heroes Remember

Young, Stupid and Invincible

Transcript

Interviewer: Were there times that you didn't think you'd get back home, flying? You know if we thought that, I don't think we would have gone. This is why they only allowed young kids to go to war because we're stupid. There could be a hundred guys in the room and those ninety-nine guys are gonna get killed, but I'm not. And this is the reason we went because we knew that that crew and that crew and that crew and that idiot crew over there, they're not gonna make it, but our crew's gonna come back. You can ask anybody, and it was sad to say, you could see an air plane going down that you knew was from your squadron, you know what you'd say? "Glad it's not us." You know it's, you became very callous. It's hard, like, you'd come back from a trip and there was some guys there, under carriage collapsed or they were shot up and the they had to emergency land and all that. The next day you take a trip to check your aircraft you know the rig and everything, and there'd be a Lancaster over there upside, on it's nose or you know, it didn't register. You were, you got so ah, callous about it. "Oh there's a Lancaster with no under carriage there's a Lancaster there..." , you know, it's, you get accustomed to seeing this stuff, you know it didn't mean much to you. It's like now if I see a car smashed up... "Holy mackerel, look at that car," you know. And there we saw air planes there all over the place you know, battered up and under carriage collapsed and, it meant nothing...very callous.

Description

Mr. Taschuk explains why only young men were assigned to Bomber Command, and recalls how callous and self-centred crews would become.

Neil Taschuk

Mr. Taschuk was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His father, a Russian immigrant, fought for Canada in the First World War. Mr. Taschuk joined the air force along with many others from the community, and was sent overseas as soon as he had earned his wireless air gunner (WAG) wings. He was assigned to a Lancaster in Bomber Command's 434 Squadron. Given the casualty rate at the time, it was a near death sentence. Against huge odds and having experienced numerous near misses, he and the rest of his crew were one of few in bomber command who were never injured in any action, training, or other mishaps.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:02
Person Interviewed:: Neil Taschuk
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 434 Squadron
Occupation:: Wireless Air Gunner

Language selection

Young, Stupid and Invincible

Heroes Remember