Frank Tolley

Frank Tolley

We had a great conversation with Frank, 93, who was volunteering at the the IWM.

• 1940, he was 19 years old and flew a Lancaster Bomber.
• Remembers thinking 'I'm breaking the 6th commandment' (thou shall not kill) when flying over cities.
• First flight - he didn't really think about who he was killing, he didn't want to be 'haunted' by it - only much later did he think about the men, women and children (Innocent lives).
• Before he joined the war, he was very poor and became an errand boy for a grocers, earned 50p a week - he was very embarrassed about this and remembers jumping in a hedge to hide with his bike whenever he saw someone.
• Also walked dogs for 2p.
• He is very proud of his sons who are extremely clever and was with his wife for 63 years.
• He recently had an interview with the BBC and had to sit in a Lancaster bomber - It was very uncomfortable and a lot smaller than he remembers.

After speaking to Frank who was extremely helpful and lovely I googled his name out of pure curiosity. What I found was hilarious! I knew he was pretty sharp for a 93 year old but it turns out that earlier in the year he did a charity zip wire over the canal in Manchester! Even now, Frank is doing his up-most to try and help future generations!

It occurred to me that without people like Frank we wouldn't live in the freedom we take for granted every day, he has sacrificed his peace of mind and lives with the fact that his team were responsible for the death of many people during the war. That is something I can't even comprehend, I am very thankful to people like him that we do not know war or what it is like to live in constant life-or-death scenarios.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/raf-veteran-93-earns-wings-8895230