In fact, I think his sentiments and the sentiments of others
are best captured by one of his closest friends,
Johnny Banks, who was a navigator
in mosquito fighter bombers, who said that when they heard
Churchill on the radio, making the speech
about fighting on the beaches, they were so deeply moved
that they just felt something had to be done.
And he said I imagined these people
on this little island defending themselves
against this aggressor, this aggression.
And he said I never liked a bully,
and I felt I had to go and fight.
And I think that captures the spirit of many of the men,
particularly who flew, who left their warm
and relatively comfortable lives, certainly there was
an arduous aspect to life in those days,
but certainly comfortable when compared to life in the blitz
or life over Germany in an aircraft, to come and fight.
They really were moved by the spirit
of British resistance, and the fact that a bully
was overrunning Europe and it just wasn't to be tolerated.
