So much owed by so many to so few

RAF memorial near Duke of Wellington Arch in London.

The Royal Air Force was in many cases the chief means of defense against the relentless aerial bombing campaign of Nazi Germany. In the early days of the war the RAF had an extremely high mortality rate. The efforts of the RAF in the Battle of Britain and the defense of the nation, prompted Winston Churchill to say in the House of Commons on 20 August, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few".

The memorial bears this as an inscription " This memorial is dedicated to the 55,573 airmen from the United Kingdom British Commonwealth & Allied Nations who served in RAF Bomber Command & lost their lives over the course of the Second World War."

One of the things that struck me about my time in England, is the war memorials were all bedecked with flowers, (as well as the paper poppies so used on veterans or armistice day).