The ultimate sacrifice

SIR – The recent correspondence (Letters, May 20) about the lack of individual recognition of those who served in wartime Bomber Command struck a deep chord with me, as indeed did the earlier reluctance to provide overt public recognition.

I served in the RAF from 1940 to 1946, injury-free. My younger brother followed me a year or so later, as soon as he was old enough, after a spell in the RAF Cadets, and gave infinitely more than I did. In late 1944, aged 22, he was lost in a downed Lancaster in the Baltic.

I went on to enjoy 65 years of happy marriage and the comfort of a loving family. He left virtually nothing apart from his name on the Runnymede Memorial. Now a near centenarian, I have always been bitterly conscious of possessing the medals that are still pristine in their delivery box. The clear injustice has prevented me from ever considering wearing them. John Vaughan

Tadworth, Surrey

SIR – An often overlooked living memorial to 617 Squadron is the RAF Foundationers Trust, established jointly by the late Sir Barnes Wallis and the RAF Benevolent Fund in 1953.

Its purpose is to educate deserving sons and daughters of men and women serving in the RAF at Christ’s Hospital. Over 150 boys and girls have passed through the school, and continue to do so, wearing the special badge, designed by Sir Barnes, on the left shoulder of their Tudor uniform. David Miller

Newton Abbot, Devon