My Eternal Heroes

By Desmond Joseph McCarthy

This vivid story from an Anglo-Irish-American veteran of World War II tells firsthand of the terror and hardship of the Battle of Britain and the Blitz on London and the bravery of the British during those eighteen months when they stood alone against Germany and Italy. Tapping into the memories etched deeply into his mind while a young man, McCarthy tells of his coming of age in war-torn London. His unique perspective as an Irishman born in Wales, raised in London, and immigrated to the United States offers a truly unique voice in the narrative of World War II.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728305103

Desmond Joseph McCarthy

Desmond Joseph McCarthy was born in 1925 in the Rhondda Valley in Wales to an Irish Catholic family. He experienced World War II Britain as both a civilian and a Royal Navy mechanic. He immigrated to the United States in 1948 at age 22. He is an avid singer, storyteller, and sports fan. This is his first book.

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Copyright © 2019 Desmond Joseph McCarthy. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 04/26/2019

ISBN: 978-1-7283-0511-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-0510-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019903406

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Prologue

Timeline

Chapter 1   There Are No Good Wars.

Chapter 2   A Formidable Enemy

Chapter 3   The Perfect Planner, an Englishman Dubbed Stuffy

Chapter 4   The Battle Of Britain Explodes. The Luftwaffe Meets The Glorious Few.

Chapter 5   The Blitzkrieg

Chapter 6   The Glorious Few Young British Lads In RAF Blue

Chapter 7   Those Brave Lads Were All Glorious Flyboys.

Chapter 8   Bomber Harris, The British Exterminator

Chapter 9   Epilogue

Glossary

DEDICATION

This book is proudly dedicated to my dearest friend Jack Snow, deceased. In his sojourn on this troubled planet Jack Snow displayed great depths of human compassion. He exerted an aura of quiet strength and a brand of human civility not witnessed very often in this world today. Jack Snow and I both served in the British Royal Navy during World War II. Our post World War II camaraderie was a pure delight. Our mutual esteem endured after I emigrated to America in 1948. What an honor it was to have had such a fine English gentleman as a bosom friend. You will never be forgotten Jack Snow; you are the blood of my heart. For now I know the joy so sweet, when souls of kindred spirits meet.

In appreciation: As I put pen to paper this grizzled, old World War II veteran is ninety-three years old. I started this narrative twelve years ago. I have survived a bout with colon cancer and I have re-written this twice. During that hazardous journey I have been encouraged and supported by two of my children: Ann Marie McCarthy and John Fitzgerald McCarthy. Ann Marie has been my, yes, you can do it Dad booster and John has been my wise, perceptive, and patient editor. Without them I could not have completed this memoir. So from the very bottom of my heart, my sincere loving thanks to my two Americans.

PROLOGUE

A few years ago I made a startling discovery. While reading the prologue of a very fine book written by an eminent British author whose name shall remain anonymous, this grand English writer declared that when his mind was beset by demons, he would put his tribulations down on paper and they would disappear, never to return again. They were exorcised. This great man of literature opened my mind to the opportunities offered by his put it down on paper theory. I had many demons from World War II that haunted me constantly. Plus, I had a burning desire to pay tribute to those brave Brits, those gallant Anglophiles I was honored to live and serve with during that second great world war. As an avid reader, I have great admiration for those wonderful authors who do their flawless research and then report their findings in perfect order. Honesty compels me to confess that this narrative contains no such literary perfection. This book is a tribute to the early original heroes of World War II. I write primarily of the time period between June 17, 1940, and December 8, 1941. During this time, the British and their commonwealth brothers fought alone to preserve and defend the freedoms we all enjoy today. Those 18 months of dark, lowly warfare were a gut wrenching experience. I pay homage to the pilots of RAF Fighter Command, those glorious few, those brave fearless airmen who saved the free world from Nazi domination.

Try to conjure up in your mind just where we would all be today had the Luftwaffe been victorious in the Battle of Britain. Those glorious few have had a permanent home in my memory bank for the last 78 years. I also yearn to describe for all freedom lovers just what it was like to be a 15-year-old, seeking both survival and sanity during that nine months of pregnant peril known as the Blitzkrieg on London. What I put down here concerning these historic battles fought in 1940 to 1941 are firsthand personal experiences.

I must state emphatically that this book not researched in the traditional manner. In fact, there were not even notes. This old, friendly, alien veteran has put down on paper events and memories exactly as they poured out of my memory bank, which thank the Lord is still intact. I write to honor and praise my ex-compatriots. I write specifically for my British comrades-in-arms, their offspring, families and friends. I would be honored and delighted if my American brethren would find interest in my story and my beliefs. For I truly believe concordance between Anglophiles and Americans is a noble goal, a melding of two bastions of democracy and human freedom. I have a great love and affection for my subjects.

The saga of those brave indefatigable Brits can only be approached with a dedication to truth and honor. To lie or distort the heroes and events described here would be the most evil of treasons, punishable only by the Judas tree. I can promise the reader one thing: the truth. My personal first hand experiences still resonate in my heart and my soul, even after 78 years. In these matters, I present nothing but La Verite. All my subjects, from the Battle of Britain to the Blitzkrieg on London, have lived in my memory bank for these many years. We have shared dreams and conversed regularly for seven decades. These heroes of my youth have been my constant companions, my soul mates. I salute their bravery. To have lived and fought with them was the defining moment of my life. It is my sincere hope and intention to show a true picture of life in Britain in those harrowing early days of World War II.

I can recall down through the years being told by my mentors, especially my English teachers, that a writer should know his subject. I am proud to present a firsthand account of those two crucial battles for human survival in the hectic days of the early 1940s.

The Battle of Britain began on July 10, 1940. The last seven weeks of the Battle of Britain melded with the first seven weeks of the Blitzkrieg on London. The magnificent bravery and honor exhibited by the pilots of RAF Fighter Command, those glorious few, will forever live on in eternal glory.

The Blitzkrieg on London at that point in time was a human catastrophe. For this was the very first attempt to bomb and kill the civilian population of a large city en masse. Here for the very first time defenseless civilians became the unarmed soldiers of war. The great valor of those Londoners still fills my heart with reverent awe and amazement. I hope I describe their courage in a way that does the same for you.

TIMELINE

Nov. 19th, 1925—Desmond McCarthy born in the Rhondda Valley, Wales

Autumn, 1932—McCarthy family moves to London

Sep. 1, 1939—Germany invades Poland

May 10, 1940—Resignation of Neville Chamberlain, paving way for Winston Churchill to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

May 30, 1940—Battle of Dunkirk, where Germans kick British out of France.

June 17, 1940—Hitler accepts France’s surrender

Late June, 1940—Hitler offers peace to Britain. Churchill says no, forcing Hitler to consider more severe action to get Britain to acquiesce.

June, 1940 to December, 1941— Eighteen-month period when Britain stood alone against the Nazi Luftwaffe (i.e. air force).

July, Aug, Sep, Oct, 1940—Battle of Britain rages as the Nazi air force attacks from bases in France, Belgium, and Scandinavia to bomb Britain with the goal of weakening it in advance of a land attack.

Sep. 7, 1940-Blitz on London starts on Black Saturday. London is bombed for 57 consecutive nights.

September 7, 1940 to May 10, 1941—German Blitzkrieg continues in cities all over Britain. (German Blitzkrieg or Lightning War) By May 1941, over 43,000 civilians, half of them in London, had been killed by bombing. More than a million houses were destroyed or damaged in London.

Sep. 15, 1940—Attacks on Hot Corner in Southeast England repelled. Considered a moral and tactical victory by the British. Germans forced to shift strategy.

Sep. 17, 1940—Planned invasion of England by land (Operation Sea Lion) postponed by Hitler. Hitler sought air supremacy over the English Channel to set up a land invasion. Germans are defeated in the Battle of Britain, and Sea Lion is never carried out.

October 1940—Though the dogfights are over, the Luftwaffe continues the nighttime bombing of London for another eight months.

November, 1940—Big bomb dropped on Hendon. Hundreds killed.

May 11, 1941—Hitler calls off the bombing campaign of Britain. Royal Air Force successfully resists the Luftwaffe assault.

May 27, 1941—British sink the German flagship Bismarck, boosting morale at a critical time

June 20, 1941-Hitler invades Russia. This signals a major strategy shift and implies he won’t invade Britain.

December 7, 1941—Japanese attack Pearl Harbor in Hawaii

Dec. 8, 1941—United States enters war

Dec. 25, 1943—Desmond McCarthy called up for service to enter the British Navy on Christmas Day.

May, 1944—Desmond posted at a naval air station on the North Sea at Kirkaldy, Scotland.

1944—Nazis again bomb London using pilotless V-1 flying bombs and V-2 rockets. Weapons were launched from the European continent. In total, the V weapons killed 8,938 civilians in London and the southeast of England.

April, 1945—Desmond sent to Isle of Man for aircraft carrier training in night flying in preparation for War in Pacific

April 11, 1945—Buchenwald concentration camp liberated by the Americans

April 15, 1945—Bergen-Belsen concentration camp liberated by the British

April 29, 1945—Dachau concentration camp liberated by the Americans

April 29, 1945—Ravensbrück liberated by the Soviets

May 5, 1945—Mauthausen freed by the Americans

May 8, 1945—Theresienstadt freed by the Soviets

May 8, 1945—Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day)

August 15, 1945—Victory in Japan Day (V-J Day)

September 2, 1945—Formal surrender of Japan

September 1945 to January, 1947—Desmond continues military service

January 1947—Desmond honorably discharged from Royal Navy

Summer,1948—Desmond McCarthy, age 22, sails to the United States aboard a Kaiser-class steamer ship.

CHAPTER 1

THERE ARE NO GOOD WARS.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

Matthew 5:9

I’ll never forget those people I met

Braving those angry times

I remember well as the shadows fell

The light of hope in their eyes

And though I’m far away

I still can hear them say

Thumbs Up!!

White Cliffs of Dover, 1941 Walter Kent and Nat Burton, sung by Vera Lynn

I can still recall very vividly the first days of World War II in London. It was a sunny September Sunday. To be exact it was September 3, 1939. It was late morning. My family and I were returning home from mass at St. Sebastian Catholic Church. As we strolled down Hay Lane, Colindale, I the northwest suburbs of London, we chatted nervously, for the Germans had invaded Poland just two days earlier. I was 13 years of age and my young mind was a whirl. I contemplated a myriad of frightening thoughts. As my family and I strolled along, we were all fully aware that this latest aggression meant eventual war with Britain