The Bomber in the Back Yard

John Griffiths-Colby


Region:
Anywhere
Notice Period:
Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
Type:
Part time professional
Fee:
Paid: £120.00
Category:
History
Updated:
15th March 2024

On 11 July 1944, Vic Doe was 6 years old when a USAAF B-24 Liberator Bomber "Incendiary Blonde" crash-landed at his family’s farm on the Isle of Grain, Kent, UK. This is the story of what he witnessed and the enduring friendship between that young boy and Malcus S. Horton, an exceptional 24-year-old pilot from Richmond, Virginia. It is also the extraordinary story of this crew from the US 448th Bombardment Group based at Seething, Norfolk, UK. They had only been in England three weeks when flak and fighter damage forced them down. Stumbling out into a field in Kent they were treated to Potato and Leek soup with freshly baked bread – which they never forgot. After 36 missions some -not all – went home. For others their journey continued through Korea and Vietnam. Remarkably this incident, only three miles from the Chatham Naval Dockyard, would echo down one family’s generations to the tragic sinking of HMS Coventry during the Falklands War.

Proceeds from this talk are shared with the Seething Control Tower Museum and the D118 HMS Coventry Association

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About John Griffiths-Colby

I have a wide-ranging background in Journalism, Business Consultancy, Public Speaking and as Funeral Officiant (Celebrant). I have written extensively for National and Regional magazines, providing satirical and lifestyle columns for the New Statesman and Italian Bike magazines respectively.

Professionally, as a Business Consultant, I deal in transformation and change and I see what works and what doesn’t, in life as well as in commerce.

All my talks are illustrated, just that; I talk and there are pictures which will illustrate and explain as a background to the subject. My talks are humorous, a little abstract and deliberately thought-provoking. I can adapt and tailor my talks to your audience as part of the fixed price. I also take commissions for specific material/audiences.

My aim is to engage and inform my audience without being too serious. This will be a sideways view of life and the audience will need to think a bit, laugh a bit and take a new thought away with them. My blog can be found at www.absurvd.com


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