About time! Last British Dambuster finally gets an honour
IT may not have been the knighthood campaigners say he deserved, but Britain’s last surviving Dambuster was bursting with pride yesterday as he collected an MBE from the Queen.
With walking stick in hand, 95-yearold George ‘Johnny’ Johnson stood to attention as the award was pinned to his chest at Buckingham Palace.
He says his role in the legendary mission to bomb German dams in May 1943 will live with him forever but yesterday’s appointment with the Queen was another great achievement for the war hero, who has also worked tirelessly raising thousands of pounds for charities.
A bomb aimer with the famous 617 Squadron, he received his medal on the back of a public outcry. TV presenter
‘It will live with me forever’
Carol Vorderman launched a petition to get Squadron Leader Johnson a knighthood, branding the decision to leave him off the honours list ‘ disgraceful’ after finding out that he had been nominated in 2015. Accompanied by RAF veteran John Nichol, she delivered a petition containing 235,000 signatures to No10. His appointment as a Member of the Order of the British Empire followed.
Mr Johnson said yesterday: ‘ I’m very much appreciative and very grateful to all those people who signed that petition, particularly Carol Vorderman and John Nichol. The outcome is very gratifying, it really is.’
His award was for services to the Second World War remembrance and the community in Bristol. When he stepped forward to speak to the Queen she told him: ‘Glad to see the Dambusters are still here.’
Mr Johnson was one of 133 Allied aircrew who set out to disable Hitler’s industrial heartland with Barnes Wallis’s specially-adapted bouncing bombs carried by their Lancaster bombers. Led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, 53 men were killed and three captured. Only Mr Johnson and Canadian gunner Fred Sutherland survive.
Mr Johnson, who lives in Bristol, said he has ‘strong memories’ from that period, adding: ‘That is something which will live forever as far as I’m concerned.’
And he is willing to pass on his experiences. ‘I don’t volunteer, but if people ask will I talk to their club or their group,’ he said. ‘If they’re interested I’ll talk to them.’
He has raised up to £20,000 in the past seven years for organisations such as the RAF Benevolent Fund. Mr Johnson worked as a teacher after 22 years’ service in the air force. He went on to work at Rampton Secure Hospital teaching those detained there, and later at another hospital for people with mental health problems.
Mr Johnson added: ‘I also had an honorary doctorate with Lincoln University which was basically because of my work with the mentally handicapped and that meant as much as this did, apart from the fact of meeting the Queen again, which was wonderful.
‘I had the honour of an audience with her about three years ago and I felt honoured to meet her for a second time. I think she’s a wonderful lady.’
Also at the Palace yesterday was actress Julie Walters, who was made a Dame for services to drama – almost 35 years after her breakthrough role in Educating Rita. The 67-year- old said the experience before the Queen was nerve-wracking but added: ‘It’s fantastic. It’s not really real.’