In the first photograph below Warrant Officer Harry Irons is in Dronten, Holland in May of 2017. May 4th is a day of remembrance of service in the Netherlands to the Bomber Command Air Gunners.

In the second photograph below Harry places a wreath to his lost comrades at the Bomber Command Monument in Green Park, London.

I became aware of the great Harry Irons through a friend at the 95th Bomb Group, Wyn Harrison of Deeping St James, Lincolnshire, England. Lincolnshire is known as bomber county, due to the many air bases that were spread across this area. She helped out sending the photographs and information I would need to post these images of Harry.

With respect and awe in what Harry accomplished during his service with the RAF between 1940 and 1945 I dedicate these pages to him. My father, Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson knew many RAF airmen and held a special feeling for them in their battle hardened spirit. What they accomplished long before he ever showed up for combat duty was duly noted by him. They welcomed him to England and his time serving with the 95th at Horham he had plenty of interaction with the airmen of the RAF.

Harry Irons was born in East London on January 12th, 1924 and was training to be a tailor when the war started. He quickly joined the RAF (Royal Air Force) when he was seventeen years old, having lied about his age and no one queried it. He was first trained as a wireless operator, but there was a shortage of air gunners so he became a rear gunner.

Harry flew aboard the four-engine Lancaster and Halifax bombers in the Number 9 and 158 Squadrons and was based at Royal Air Force Waddington, England. In his first few missions, Harry was at the mid-upper gunner position. Richard 'Dick' Stubbs, the crew's pilot thought that he would have a good view and a chance to look all around. Harry later moved to the rear gunner position.

At Waddington he met and flew with Wyn's cousin Flight Lt. William Alfred Colson who was later killed in December of 1943 in the 97th Squadron Pathfinder Force. It was in that how Wyn met Harry Irons.

His final rank after 60 missions (ops) was Warrant Officer. It often caused confusion in RAF records that Harry, whose birth name was Harry Galloway, but changed his last name to Irons at one point. Two different names are noted in Harry's RAF combat flight records. Though in the end, as RAF records show, Warrant Officer Harry Irons can be proud to say he accomplished 60 missions, which in my mind was a phenomenal feat.

The RAF crewmen were up against the Germans (1939) far longer than the Americans, whose first combat missions out of England began in later 1942. Just in comparison, my father completed 35 missions between February and September 1944. Harry's combat flying record to me is beyond the pale.

Towards the end of the war, Harry married Catherine in December 1944. After the war Harry learned the dry cleaning trade and was eventually able to open his own dry cleaning business. As a veteran he has been involved in many RAF activities, giving talks, attending important services and carried an enormous part in making it possible for British Bomber Command to have the magnificent monument they have in London.