meeting an unknown wartime saviour
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understandinguncertainty.org was produced by the Winton programme for the public understanding of risk based in the Statistical Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. The aim was to help improve the way that uncertainty and risk are discussed in society, and show how probability and statistics can be both useful and entertaining.
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My father was in the first day landings of D-Day. As I recall, they set out in a group of 12 small boats together at night, but after many mishaps only two boats got there. As they eventually came into the shelter of the Cherbourg peninsula, a gun battery started to target them in the early morning. Then a single British plane came into view and managed to silence the guns.
When my father was working in Singapore many decades afterwards, this story came up in conversation and one of the men present said 'I was the pilot'.
I may not have every detail of the position etc correct (it's a long time since I heard it and my father is now dead), but the story is true and my father was convinced by the other man's account.
Date submitted:Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:06:40 +0000Coincidence ID:5497
