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Leeds RAF man's Pacific mission
A West Yorkshire Royal Air Force veteran has made a nostalgic visit to a Pacific island which was one of his wartime bases.
Richard Jervis was a young bank clerk before joining the thousands of young men who made up the bomber crews flying missions deep into Germany in the Second World War.
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Mr Jervis, now 87 and living at Scarcroft, outside Leeds, was navigator in a Lancaster bomber and flew 36 missions over Germany.
British bomber crews suffered appalling losses but he survived, and when Germany was defeated in May, 1945, he was transferred to the remote coral island of Cocos Keeling, halfway between Australia and Sri Lanka.
The island was to be a springboard to launch aircraft in the invasion of Japan, an event that never happened as surrender came with the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
So instead of returning to flying, Mr Jervis became Flight Lieutenant and Welfare Officer, looking after hundreds of crew members – and also found himself in charge of entertainment, welcoming visiting stars including the popular singer Gracie Fields.
This year Mr Jervis made a return visit to the island, thanks to a scheme run by the Big Lottery Fund.
Heroes Return provides grants for veterans, widows, spouses and carers to make commemorative visits to former wartime postings.
The aim is to reflect the nation's debt to the British veterans of the Second World War, and 27 people from Yorkshire and Humberside have been funded on visits to destinations including Holland, France, Italy, Germany, Sri Lanka, Malta and Egypt.
"I was on Cocos Keeling for a year and had to wait until the last of the ships had arrived to take the troops back home," said Mr Jervis. "I was in charge of keeping happy two bomber squadrons, a fighter squadron and a squadron of torpedo carrying aircraft, as well as a few thousand Indian troops who had helped build the air base.
"To keep the troops entertained I had three mobile cinemas, we used to get the latest films flown out to us before they were in the cinemas back home, and the latest American films were in colour too.
"I used to run quizzes, arrange for newspapers to be flown in, we played sports and had a football league with the games played on the beach when the tide went out.
"All our food was tinned, we didn't have any fresh food, and had to be flown in with the mail, films and newspapers.
"The only fresh food we had on the island was an apple each that we were given at Christmas.
"When I went back to the island it was good to go and see the place, it seemed a lot more overgrown than it was at the end of the war.
"One of the jetties was still there and I saw where my tent used to be located but the jungle had taken over the spot."
After the war Mr Jervis returned to his job of clerk with the Midland Bank.
He married and moved from his home in Gomersal to Leeds, and lived in the Foxwoods at Oakworth. He and his wife Muriel had a son.
Mr Jervis joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve and became commanding officer of the Air Training Corps at Oakwood.
He retired from Midland bank as manager of Armley branch in 1983, and with his wife Muriel started an antiques business.
His wife died 11 years ago.
Mr Jervis still has a taste for travelling.
"I go abroad for winter," he said. "I go to live in Goa in India for
three or four months a year."
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Friday 25 May 2012
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