Mary Harris sent in this touching anecdote about Sir John...
I was an early member of COFEPOW, now an honorary life member because possibly one of the few widows left, and I worked with Carol, Ron and Keith in cataloguing the artefacts upstairs in our wonderful FEPOW building. The day of the formal opening was very emotional of course and when the formalities were over, I went outside to be on my own, not knowing about the spitfire that was to come over for its salute. In came in so low that I feared for it and we could see the pilot clearly. It circled our building, twice so far as I remember then, gaining enough height for safety, did a victory roll as it flew off. It was the victory roll that finished me off and I stood there on my own, crying my heart out. Sir John came up and put his arm round my shoulders. “You are way behind the RAF you know” he said. “We all start crying as soon as we hear the engines”. I loved him for that, and for noticing me, white haired among the uniforms, a woman whose whole life has been dominated by WWII in the Far East.
