Whipped Cream Difficulties

Flight Lt. John Cruickshank (RAF – ret.). He was 105.

He and his crew were flying a submarine patrol mission in a Catalina flying boat on July 17, 1944 when they spotted a U-boat. They made a first pass over the boat, strafed it, and tried to drop depth charges. The depth charges didn’t release. So they made a second pass at the submarine.

But the submarine’s crew had them lined up in their sights. The Catalina, and Lt. Cruickshank, were shot all to hell. The bombardier was killed. Lt. Cruickshank managed to release the depth charges and sink the sub.

The crew put him in a bunk for the return flight back to base, which was five hours.

John Appleton, an airman who helped the flight lieutenant after he was hit by shrapnel — his injuries included two serious lung wounds and 10 penetrating leg wounds — told the Imperial War Museum in a 1995 interview that he was sure his commanding officer was mortally wounded. He meant to keep him comfortable as he died.
“I realized he must be in terrible pain,” Mr. Appleton recalled. “I can see blood started to soak through into his chest, even through all his pullovers and flying gear, and so on. But he hadn’t mentioned any of this at all.”

Lt. Cruickshank refused morphine for his pain. He knew that the co-pilot couldn’t land the plane by himself. He actually kept the plane flying for another hour once they got back to base, so they could land in daylight. And he had the crew carry him back to the cockpit and prop him in his seat so he could help land the plane.

With hands hovering shakily over the controls, he coached the co-pilot through the descent and a water landing. A doctor rushed aboard to give him a blood transfusion before he was evacuated.

Lt. Cruickshank was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions. He was the last surviving Victoria Cross recipient from WWII.

…he told The Daily Telegraph, “The citation said ‘showed great courage’ and all that nonsense, but a lot of people would have done that in those circumstances.”

This was literally just published as I was writing this: James Dobson, of “Focus on the Family”.