Dear Indy Neidel,
The compassionate Japanese bomber?
Just mentioning this in case there’s a record of it somewhere in your files.
My maternal grandfather, Philip L.E. Williamson was in the R.A.M.C. (Royal Army Medical Corps) of British India.
As told by him…
In 1944-45 or earlier, he and 4 or 5 comrades were returning to India from Burma in a jeep. One of them was badly wounded and bedridden. They were about to cross a bridge over some river among many other bridges over that river, when the jeep failed.
A Japanese bomber plane was hovering the length of the river, probably deciding what to destroy.
They had to repair the jeep quickly, for they couldn’t carry the wounded comrade the remaining length of the bridge in time before the plane would bomb the bridge.
While they were desperately trying to fix the jeep, the plane kept passing back and forth along the length of the river.
By good luck they managed to get the jeep working and crossed the bridge towards India.
When they were at a safe distance from the bridge after crossing it, only then did the plane bomb the bridge.
My grandfather may not have been famous nor even his name well-known at all. But if you have a similar incident in your records, please let me know. It might be the same one.
Best wishes.
- Jeremy Shaughnessy
(+91) 75584-50519
Pûné (Poona), India