Eugene Shurleigh "Buster" Parker
Royal Canadian Air Force 428 Squadron
from:Petrolia, Ontario, Canada
My father, Eugene Parker was a member of the ground crew at Middleton St George. He wouldn't speak about the war much at all. He told me years later the reason was because so many of the guys he became friends with never came back from their bombing missions. I understand from other documentaries that 428 (Ghost) Squadron got their name from sustaining such terrific losses. Losing on average 5 crewman per sortie. His job was to work on the Lancasters after each mission getting them ready for the next.
Dad told me that he spent almost 2 years at Middleton St George then onto the Azores then back to Nova Scotia where they trained to go to Japan. However the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war before they went.
He also told me that on the flight home to Canada he rode in the lower section of the plane under the pilots in the front gunner section. As they flew low over ice fields he could see polar bears on some of the icebergs.
