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It is surprising what is often hidden.
In Central Africa I employed an ex Town Clerk once. He was 30 years older then me, and a very quiet modest introspective man.
One day, as he found out that I had an interest in aircraft, he brought in a large box crammed to bursting with black and white photos from WW2 - aircraft photos from North Africa, Sudan, Ethiopia and the Med. It turned out he had served in the South African Airforce.
He insisted on me keeping the photos and one day I found a folded piece of paper at the bottom - an official doc related to a medal he had been awarded for bravery. I returned it to him, but he declined to explain the background to it.
I researched it further when I was next in South Africa and found that it was awarded to him after he crawled out on the wing of a bomber to put out an engine fire! Something I only thought happened in moves.........
Some years later (after his death) I met his son and asked him about the incident and found he knew nothing about it - not even that has father was given a bravery award!
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My father served in WW2 and after with the Royal Engineers, being also attached to the Sudanese Camel Corp and the Gurkhas. I know of a few interesting things he told me, have tons of photographs that are unexplained and wish I knew more rather then the very little I he told me. But again, he was not very communicative about his military career.
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The SD40 is 55 now!
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