A radio show reminds me of a story my father told me

Last Friday when I was listening to the radio on my way to work, I heard an interview on Morning Edition at National Public Radio that reminded me of stories my father used to tell me.

The show I heard was an interview with actress Helen Mirren and director Gavin Hood about their new movie Eye in the Sky about the use of drones to hunt and kill terrorists. By using those remote controlled weapons, they found themselves isolated from the action and making decisions about whether innocent people should be killed in an attack to get the terrorists before they dispersed. They were making those decisions from their safe position. Would it affect the decision they made? I know this is a current question but it is similar to how war has always been run by politicians and generals who are also removed from the fighting and making decisions about innocent lives without seeing them first hand. This is a separate, interesting thing to discuss in another post.

What reminded me of my father's story was the part where Ms. Mirren was talking about London during World War 2 when the Germans sent unmanned flying bombs (the V-1 which was really an early type of jet) over the city that were loaded with explosives. Their flights were timed to end over the city and when they crashed, the explosives would destroy large parts of the city and kill many people. She talked about the distinctive sound of the engines (they were called "Buzz Bombs" or "Doodlebugs" because of that sound) and how people would hear them and pray that the engine would keep going for a while longer. Once the engine cut out, there would be an explosion a few seconds later and it could kill you or people in your neighborhood.

My father was born in Wales and his mother and he moved to London before the war. He joined the Royal Air Force and was usually out of the city at his base. But when he would be on leave, he would come to London to visit his mother. He remembered first hearing the Buzz Bombs and thinking it was just some different type of airplane. When he heard the engine cut out, he thought to himself, "Good. They got that one." Only later did he find out the story about why the engines cut out. He always talked about how terrifying it was to hear the sound of those engines and wonder when the engine would cut out. He said he always felt safer when it was time to leave his mother and go back to the military base. But he was always afraid for his mother who couldn't get out of the city. I suppose she would have gone if she could.

You can listen to the interview and read the transcript of the radio story at this link.