All of us, not least historians and journalists, like precise statements. However, the Memorial Trust regards the caveat, ‘as far as we know’ as important for a number of reasons. The Trust is conscious that a significant number of the Few chose to disappear from view in the years after the Second World War. Some had no taste for the celebrity their status could bring them. Some believed, with great modesty, that their part in the Battle of Britain had been so small that they did not deserve to be regarded as one of the Few.
There are so many examples. One Hurricane pilot died in the west country some years ago, leaving his family instructions that the RAF and associated bodies were not to be informed of his death. Around the same time, news of the passing of a Spitfire pilot in East Anglia came as a considerable surprise. In the case of one Blenheim observer, there was no hint of his departure until 18 months after the event, when a staff member at the Sussex old people’s home in which he had been living, made a phone call. It looks as though another former Blenheim crew member also lived out his final years in Sussex. At any rate, somebody with the same initials and uncommon surname did.
That is why it is best not to assert that Group Captain Hemingway is the last survivor from the aircrew of the Battle of Britain, although, of course, every passing day makes it more likely that he is.
Much the same is true of various other matters concerning the summer and autumn of 1940. It is not possible to know precisely how many Allied aircrew took part because new names are still uncovered from time to time. That is one reason why we do not know, for instance, who the youngest person or the youngest pilot was, though claims to the contrary are sometimes made. How many were killed in the Battle? To answer that we first need to know what definition of ‘killed in the Battle’ we are using.
The list of imponderables goes on. ‘As far as we know’ and ‘believed’ are very important words in the vocabulary of those who seek to uncover and record history.
Geoff Simpson FRHistS
Caption: Group Captain John Hemingway, DFC.
