Community Poppy Sculpture at International Bomber Command Centre, in commemoration of 75 years since Operation Manna and VE Day.
"A new sculpture, featuring ceramic poppies created by children, students, RAF families, residents, and veterans was unveiled today to mark the 75th anniversary of Operation Manna and VE Day.
The sculpture which has been a joint project between the International Bomber Command Centre and the Little Pottery Studio in Lincoln, has received support from a wide range of Lincolnshire businesses and community groups. This support has enabled groups of children, students, RAF families, local residents and veterans to be involved in hand crafting ceramic poppies. The 1,600 poppies have been placed on a 3m x 2.5m steel column that will be sited in front of the Chadwick Centre at the IBCC. The project has involved nearly 1,000 people and has taken 2,059 hours to produce.
The sculpture will sit in a newly commissioned flowerbed holding over 6,000 bulbs including 1,800 Liberation Tulips. These tulips were commissioned by the Government of the Netherlands in 2015 to mark the 70th anniversary of Operation Manna. This operation saved the lives of nearly a million Dutch civilians who were starving after one of the worst winters in history and the annexation of the West of the Netherlands as a reprisal for Dutch support of Operation Market Garden. Over 20,000 people had already perished during the “Hongerwinter”
2020 sees the 75th anniversary of both Operation Manna and VE Day. This new installation is a focus for both celebrations and delivers the IBCC’s themes of Recognition, Remembrance and Reconciliation.
The sculpture was unveiled in a ceremony attended by dignitaries, supporters and sponsors.
The International Bomber Command Centre, which opened on 30 th January 2018, has been created to provide a world-class facility to serve as a point for recognition, remembrance and reconciliation for Bomber Command."
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Operation Manna - It was the end of World War Two and the airmen of Bomber Command that propelled humanitarian relief work into the modern era.
"The British operation started first. It was named after the food which was miraculously provided to the Israelites in the Book of Exodus. The planning of the operation was initially done by the Royal Air Force.
The first of the two RAF Avro Lancasters chosen for the test flight, the morning of 29 April 1945, was nicknamed Bad Penny, as in the expression: "a bad penny always turns up". This bomber, with a crew of seven young men (five from Ontario, Canada, including pilot Robert Upcott of Windsor, Ontario), took off in bad weather despite the fact that the Germans had not yet agreed to a ceasefire. (Seyss-Inquart would do so the next day.) Bad Penny had to fly low, down to 50 feet (15 m), over German guns, but succeeded in dropping her cargo and returning to her airfield.
Operation Manna then began in earnest. British aircraft from Groups 1, 3, and 8 took part, flying 145 sorties by Mosquitoes and 3,156 sorties by Lancaster bombers, flying between them a total of 3,301 sorties.
These bombers were used to dropping bombs from 6,000 metres (20,000 ft), but this time they had to do their job from a height of 150 metres (490 ft), some even flying as low as 120 metres (390 ft), as the cargo did not have parachutes. The drop zones, marked by Mosquitoes from 105 and 109 Squadrons using Oboe, were: Katwijk (Valkenburg airfield), The Hague (Duindigt horse race course and Ypenburg airfield), Rotterdam (Waalhaven airfield and Kralingse Plas) and Gouda. Bomber Command delivered a total of 6,680 tons of food.
John Funnell, a navigator on the operation, says the food dropped was tinned food, dried food and chocolate.
As we arrived people had gathered already and were waving flags, making signs, etc., doing whatever they could. It was a marvellous sight. As time went on, so there were also messages, such as Thank you for coming boys. On the 24th April, we were on battle order at Elsham Wolds. We went to a briefing and were told the operation was cancelled because Bomber Harris thought it was too dangerous for the crews. The idea was we would cross the Dutch border at 1,000 feet, and then drop down to 500 feet at 90 knots which was just above stalling speed. On the 29th, we were on battle orders again. There was no truce at that point, and as we crossed the coast, we could see the anti-aircraft guns following us about. We were then meant to rise up to 1,000 feet, but because of the anti-aircraft guns we went down to rooftop level. By the time they sighted on us, we were out of sight. A lot of people were surprised we went without armaments, in case of any trigger-happy tail gunner. Originally, it was going to be 'Operation Spam' which was in my log book. We also went to Lyden, but dropped the food at Falkenburg. We navigators are interested in the latitude and longitude of the place, rather than the name.
The idea was for people to gather and redistribute the food, but some could not resist eating straight away, which caused some people to get sick and vomit, (and some died) a result that fatty food can have in starved bodies known as Refeeding syndrome. On the other hand, distribution sometimes took as long as ten days, resulting in some getting the food only after the liberation. Nevertheless, many lives were saved, and it gave hope and the feeling that the war would soon be over.
Earlier, there had been a distribution of white bread made from Swedish flour that was shipped in and baked locally. A popular myth holds that this bread was dropped from aircraft, but that is a mix-up between the two events. Also, the food was not dropped with parachutes, as is often said."
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VE Day -
"Victory in Europe Day, generally known as VE Day (Great Britain) or V-E Day (North America), or simply as V-Day, is a day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on May 8, 1945.
On 30 April 1945, Adolf Hitler, the Nazi leader, committed suicide during the Battle of Berlin. Germany's surrender was authorised by his successor, Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz. The administration headed by Dönitz was known as the Flensburg Government. The act of military surrender was first signed at 02:41 on 7 May in SHAEF HQ at Reims, and a slightly modified document was signed on May 8th in Berlin.
Most European countries celebrate the end of World War II on the 8th of May. Russia, Belarus, and Serbia celebrate on May 9th, as did several former Soviet bloc countries. Israel marks VE Day on May 9th, as well, as a result of the large number of immigrants from the former Soviet bloc, although it is not a public holiday. The term VE Day existed as early as September 1944, in anticipation of victory."
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