I owe you my life, tearful envoy tells bomber hero, 93
THE Israeli ambassador to the UK broke down in tears when he met one of Britain’s World War Two heroes, to whom he says he owes his life.
Mark Regev, 57, says he and his three siblings are only alive because of the sacrifice of Harry Irons and the airmen of Bomber Command.
Mr Irons, now 93, was a 21-year-old gunner on a Halifax bomber in the Magdeburg raid on January 16, 1945.
Mr Regev’s grandfather, Joachim Freiberg, was living with his family as a slave labourer in the German city under the Nazis.
At an emotional meeting with Mr Irons at the RAF Club in Piccadilly, London, Mr Regev said: “If it wasn’t for people like Harry, my father and all the Jews in Europe would have been murdered.
“This man lied about his age to fight the Nazis and many of his comrades were killed. He deserves my respect.”
On the night of the raid the Freiberg family hid in a medieval church in the city centre. They survived the aerial assault and fled to the countryside.
After the war Mr Freiberg took his family to Australia, including his son Martin, Mr Regev’s father. They emigrated to Israel in 1954 and Mr Regev’s father died in 2015, aged 84.
Mr Irons, from Romford, Essex, said: “The bombing was merciless. The ambassador’s father was just a kid and so was I. How I survived, I don’t know.
“We lost a whole nation of youngsters.”
After successive governments snubbed Bomber Command’s heroism, a stunning memorial now stands in London’s Green Park in tribute to the 55,573 men and women who fell serving with the elite unit.
This paper’s readers donated £500,000 towards the Bomber Command Memorial, a sum matched by Daily Express owner Richard Desmond.