Remembered with Honour.
Carol
'
The incident was forgotten until many years later when Doris Davies, the crew truck driver who had covered for Iris and was in on the secret, brought it to light again in 1996.
She approached Cilla Black, the host of Surprise, Surprise (a British light television program), with the story. She was interested in including the story on one of her programs. Iris was contacted in New Zealand, and myself in London, to appear on her program in London England.”
Iris Price: “I can remember Bob daring me to go on a mission with him, so being the daredevil that I was in those days I agreed. It was a night operation which made the plan easy to achieve. A friend stood in for me while I was gone. This night I boarded the “Vicious Virgin”. Bob got me a helmet, mask, parachute and harness. I was in my Battle Dress...normal MT garb. We took off for Germany, via France and Belgium. There were a lot of searchlights and some flak. At this stage I was feeling sick. We arrived over the target, the bombs were dropped and we turned for home. Mission accomplished, I calmed down a bit. Then it happened. I wanted to relieve myself.
This I managed to do, eventually, into a bag which was disposed of down the flare-chute. However In the process of partly undressing and struggling to dress again I lost my oxygen supply and became anoxic. Fortunately the crew were checking on me and brought me to, but the feeling of sickness returned. The next day I reported to S.S.Q. (Station Sick Quarters) [the medical officer] put my disposition down to a touch of flu and got two days off duty. At the time neither I nor the crew members dared to tell anyone. Goodness knows what the consequences would have been! The whole business was an experience that I will never forget.”
One of THE real sad things I found out (whilst doing some light research), is that poor old Doris Davies, one of 153's "Crew Bus Drivers" (taking 153's crews TO their respective Avro Lancasters) & who had also appeared on Cilla's famous "Surprise, Suprise" program, later sadly died of Tuberculosis
To be fair, she had a 'GOOD INNINGS' (lifespan wise) & done an important job for the crews.
Down the road from where I lived, another lady on yet another RAF Avro Lancaster base did precisely the same job as Doris did - It got back to me barely a fortnight AFTER she'd died, that she'd been both mentally & emotionally "carved up" (the expression used), seeing "Night after Night" = ALL the boys of exactly the same age as her, being dropped-off at dispersal pans, with their respective navigational aids & parachutes (& "lucky charms"), jumping out of HER large truck & saying an emotional "Good Luck", knowing that many she either saw, knew of, or dropped off, never came back or returned from their often highly dangerous missions, mainly due to "Flak", collisions, or German Luftwaffe Night-Fighters.
The guy who told me this said "She was still being affected by it, in the year 2000's onward..."
Jim "Granny" Vollens & Iris Price, the highly illegal 'Ruhr joyrider' both appeared too, on the April 1996 episode of Cilla Black's (& I.T.V's) "Surprise, Surprise" too.
Thankfully there ARE photographs of them - Both in 1945 and also in 1996
I'll include the all important shot of "NG.500" known as "P4-V" with both Iris & "P4-V's" full crew
BTW ;
WAAF Iris Price is under the faint Red mark !!
I'll also include the April 1996 - PDF file,
Please Note - The PDF file pages you need are pages 8, 9 and 10
https://www.warplane.com/documents/Flightlines-March-2018.pdf Cheers, "Hawny">>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Avro Lancaster B.1 “Vicious Virgin”,
NG500, coded P4-V, sometime after the ‘event’
Back Row (L- R): Sgt “Junior” Al Hardiman (Flight Engineer);
W/O “Granny” Jim Vollans (Bomb Aimer); F/Sgt George Woolmer (Rear Gunner); member of Ground Staff; F/O Bob Purves (Aircraft Captain);
WAAF Iris Price; F/O Tommy Burke (Navigator); F/Sgt Jim Storey (Wireless Operator); Sgt Jack Crowther (Mid-Upper Gunner); Station Medical Officer; F/Sgt in charge of maintenance
Front row are ALL part of 'NG500's maintenance flight crew, sadly, none are known, today**
( However, they ARE thankfully immortalised in this historic shot )
