click on image to view larger version
Eric "Junior" Cooper
Introducing "Clipped Wings"
This website consists mostly of my World War II recollections, from my final school days and "rustification" though to trainee bomber pilot and, all too soon, as a Prisoner of War in Poland and Germany. Most of my time as a POW was spent in Stalag Luft III, with a seven-month spell in Oflag XXIB, but I also remember our march towards Bremen and then back eastward during the early, chaotic days of 1945, followed by liberation and repatriation from Holland. The story closes with my return home, and finding peace in Cambridge.
This story is a collection of memories that I have already passed on to my two daughters and my son, but never before spun together as a coherent chapter in the family history. It is also a catharsis. Like many of my generation, "The" war forced us rudely out of childhood, and left some deep scars on our minds and bodies. Recounting the story after all this time is at once both painful and healing, and I hope that my story will strike a chord with others who shared my experiences of this turbulent time in history.
This account has been published as a short book, and I welcome e-mails, particularly from those who may have shared my experiences in Germany and Poland.