Nicola Adam recounts the war time diaries of her Grandfather, Squadron Leader Peter 'Dinga' Bell, for the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
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00:00Hi, my name is Nicola Adam and I wanted to share something very special to me and to my family,
00:16to mark VE Day. So my grandfather was called Peter Gardner Bell. He was a pilot in the RAF
00:27and I am very lucky indeed that I have his diary from 1945. That would be the wrong way round but you can see there, 1945.
00:39Now, he was a squadron leader in the RAF during the war. He was based out in India and Burma where he was a pilot.
00:49And, really importantly, he wrote this diary throughout the war telling every single day he filled it in, right until the end of the war,
01:01which was probably, he fills this in until about three months after VE Day because the war had not ended for him immediately.
01:09He was still involved in fighting the Japanese in Burma and his squadron was still very much active at this point.
01:17But what I thought I would share with you today is what he said on VE Day in 1945.
01:23He, just a little bit of background about Peter Gardner Bell. He was known as Dinger Bell.
01:31Everybody in the RAF had a nickname and he was no exception with a surname like Bell. Obviously, it was going to be Dinger.
01:38He was obviously in charge of the squadron. They did a lot of work. They, from what I can gather, they had a, they did a lot of transportation.
01:48And also, I think he also was a bomber pilot, flew a number of planes. I know he flew a Hudson at some point.
01:55But there's a number of aircraft that he flew. He's very much based out there in the kind of India Burma area in this diary.
02:03He doesn't give away exact locations for obvious reasons. He does give timings and stuff like that retrospectively.
02:09But he doesn't give away anything that if this went into enemy hands would be dangerous and you can understand why.
02:17He very much, I know because he survived the war and I very much know that he loved the RAF.
02:25His time in the RAF was very precious to him. But like so many veterans, he held a lot of it inside.
02:34He didn't talk about the details very much. He didn't talk about how it affected him.
02:40He talked about the people. He talked about the places, but the actual operational realities of what he had to do,
02:46he doesn't talk about very much and he doesn't really talk about that apart from in a practical, logistical way in this diary.
02:54So the only thing I know really about his time in detail is what's in here.
03:02And also that he was awarded two medals after the war. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his work as a pilot.
03:11And unusually, he was actually awarded the American Flying Cross because of his work with the Americans.
03:19He actually worked quite heavily with the Americans and Canadians. They all worked together.
03:23And he actually flew an American general over enemy lines and effectively saved his life.
03:29That is what is on the citation for the medal. He never really talked to us about this.
03:33So it is it is fascinating. But yeah. So this diary is actually really difficult to read his handwriting leaves a lot to be desired.
03:43I mean, it's quite neat, but it's just hard to get tuned into. So I'm translating what I can from here.
03:49But these are the days where you can see here. This is the days around the day.
03:55So that is the seventh, which is a Monday, the eighth, of course, the day, which is a Tuesday, Wednesday, the ninth, etc.
04:03So on Tuesday, the eighth and just to proceed this by saying that the night before he apparently they've been out.
04:10They've had a few drinks the night before. So he doesn't say his location.
04:13He's not at the base. He's somewhere else. He says we stayed up drinking and chatting until about 2300 hours then to bed.
04:22So obviously, you know, that it's not something that happens quite a lot.
04:29So I think they almost knew, knew, knew what was the fault that the war was nearly over at that point.
04:34Then on the Tuesday, he says he awoke 0500 hours by aircraft flying close overhead.
04:41He said he went for breakfast at 730. He always mentions the food in here. Very important.
04:47Very important. And then he actually there's a sentence here I can't quite translate.
04:53It's something about 910. I'm not quite sure what that says.
04:57It might be a briefing or some sort of conversation with somebody.
05:00And then he took off at 1055 off to base camp.
05:05He hasn't been to base camp recently. It looks like he's been spending a lot of time away.
05:09So he's pleased to be back at base camp. But then he goes off on another mission.
05:14And he says his total flying time takes him up to 1330.
05:19So, yeah, he's he's he's back at base camp by then.
05:24Next up, he's talks about Churchill speech.
05:28So he says Churchill spoke at 730 announcing the end of the war in Europe.
05:34Very matter of fact.
05:36He then, you know, in three words, probably sums it up.
05:40He just says everybody very quiet.
05:44The next day, he elaborates a little bit on this.
05:47He talked first of all, talks about very strange to be back with the squadron after Churchill's speech last night.
05:55So it's obviously impacted all of them, talks a little bit more about the cessation of the war.
06:01He says, I did not stay up to listen to the king.
06:05So that might just be due to a time difference.
06:07I'm not sure why I did that or if he was flying early the next day.
06:10He's certainly right back at it on a mission and almost immediately.
06:15But he does talk a little bit about the end of the war.
06:19He said, I can't believe the war is over.
06:22That is the great pleasure.
06:26I hope this war is over soon.
06:30So he realizes there that the war in Europe is over.
06:33There's still war being fought outside Europe where he is.
06:37He is still involved and he just hopes that he can get away soon.
06:41I think back to to his family and to his fiancee, who was my grandmother Norma.
06:50Now, his fiancee Norma, my grandmother, was based out in India.
06:54They actually met out there.
06:55So he remained in India after the war for a while.
06:59They actually got married in India.
07:00She is was British.
07:03She was part of her parents.
07:05They were part of the cotton industry out in India.
07:09They lived in Kornpore and that's where they met.
07:13So, yeah, it's they got married and they came back to Manchester, which is in the northwest of England, which is where I am now.
07:21And the story continues.
07:24The eldest child was my mum.
07:27And yeah.
07:29So anyway, I just thought I'd share that.
07:32This is a man's diary.
07:33It's not full of emotion, full of detail apart from about flying and food and weather.
07:38But he really did stick to it.
07:40And as you can see, he really continued to write all the way through.
07:46Really fantastic.
07:48Lots of personal stuff in here, but not super personal, if you know what I mean.
07:54So there's a bit of details about his dad's birthday, talking about what Norma is up to and that Norma's written to him, that kind of thing.
08:02So it does allude to that.
08:03But yeah, something this diary is very special to us, to my family.
08:08And I just wanted to say thank you, Grandpa.