Corp. Norman Say LAC.

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=80 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="0c200500dvldtc.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="BauerBodni BT" ><B>113 SQUADRON</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" ><B>     |    </B></FONT><B> </B><A HREF="home_of_113_squadron.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="WELCOME"><U><B>HOME</B></U></A></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#00FFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" >back to</FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT><A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="( P to S )"><U><B>(    P to S    )</B></U></A></div> <div> Corp. Norman Say LAC.</div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=215 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="0c3d7c00dvldtc.gif"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id94_m.htm#photo_album" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="Corp. Norman Say LAC."><U>PHOTO ALBUM</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="norman_say_113_squadron.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="VIEW FROM THE GROUND"><U>MEMOIRS</U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=400 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" >Back to </FONT><A HREF="id28_corp_norman_say_lac.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="( P to S )"><U>CORP SAY PROFILE</U></A>      <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" >Back to</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><A HREF="113_squadron_personnel.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="SQUADRON PERSONNEL"><U>SQUADRON PERSONNEL</U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" >        </FONT><A HREF="home_of_113_squadron.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="WELCOME"><U>HOME</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="7897ea80.gif" border=0 width="126" height="168" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <U>LAC </U><U>CORPORAL NORMAN SAY</U></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <U><IMG SRC="29ec1370.jpg" border=0 width="193" height="311" ALT="Corp NORMAN SAY LAC" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></div> <bR> <div> A<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" > remarkable man whose service during the war rivals any work of fiction. Unbelievably Corporal Say had followed the 113 from its beginning days in the desert through 'virtually every single move and theater' to nearly its final days in Burma and were that not enough, sandwiched in this period, he even saw action aside from the 113 in Iraq and Palestine. Incredibly, along with a stint back home, he then went on to serving in the France, Belgium, Holland and German theaters. His photo album is like a perverted travel guide to the entire second world war. This is not one who pushed pencils safely in the rear far from the guns, in many cases he was in harms way in the very thick of it on the front lines. My only conclusion as to how he could have possibly survived the war is that he simply didn't stand still long enough. One moment he is deep in the desert diving for a trench as a Mesershmitt, cannons blazing, throws up puffs of sand around him and in the next he is racing for his life across the tarmac of an areodrome in Greece as wheels and bits and pieces of exploding Blenheims rain down around him. Next scene he is racing down a mountain road with a dive bomber of the Luftwaffe chasing him and yet in the next, he is tossed a box of 303 shells and with a handfull of others told to take a last stand on Crete. Turn the page and we find him locked in the hold of an overcrowded filthy tramp steamer in the middle of the Meditteranean with dive bombers attacking the convoy. Zoom in on Libya, deep in the heart of enemy territory and 'there he is' at the very front lines with the famous 7th Armoured Division in the historic push to drive Rommel from the desert. Flip yet another page and we find Corporal Say on an aerodrome in France near Dunkirk being shelled by German artillery. If all of this seems surreal, consider the fact that Corporal Say was an Engineer, RAF Ground Crew, not a highly trained career soldier. On arrival to Egypt he reported to his front line squadron without ever having fired a shot and indeed he didn't even have a gun. During training back in England as they didn't have such extra luxuries as guns, they played soccer instead of rifle drills.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Click here to read Normans <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#00FFFF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="norman_say_113_squadron.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="VIEW FROM THE GROUND"><U>MEMOIRS</U></A></FONT>. It is a fascinating, well written story which leads the reader through ordeal and adventure, as well as a rare glimpse of everyday squadron life of the Ground Crew personnel.  </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <U> <A NAME="photo_album"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></U><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#CC9900" FACE="Arial" ><U>PHOTO ALBUM</U></FONT></div> <bR> <div> The following photographs were taken by Corp Say during his extensive travels while serving with the 113 Squadron. Some of these photos, such as the last flight of the Blenheims and the flood at Madras, are simply extrodinary. All are a wonderfull visual record giving life to the words, and enabling us to follow the 113 through the eyes of those who were there.</div> <bR> <div> In Norman's own words: "<I>I carried a small Zeiss pocket camera with me the whole time I was abroad. I can’t remember where I got the film nor the chemicals because I did all my own developing and printing. I do know that I was never without a film. The hot weather at times played havoc with the developing, but the huts in the jungle were very dark late at night so I never needed a darkroom. In fact sometimes I could view the progress of my developing by the light of the fireflies which were everywhere." </I></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="18fee770.jpg" border=0 width="494" height="375" ALT="Doug Barret and Corp Norman Say at Acropolis" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Doug Barratt and Corp Norman Say at Acropolis</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="19214840.jpg" border=0 width="532" height="388" ALT="dougout at Maaten Bagush 1941 Corp Norman Say" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Titled the Dug Out, Ma'aten Bagush Oct 1941.</B></div> <div> Entrance to Dug out, presumably Norman's.  Judging from the circumference of the depression that the photographer is standing in, I would say the dugout is dug into the side of a bomb crater. These shelters were used in the event of enemy air raids on the aerodromes and would stop machine gun straffing or flying debris but would not survive a close bomb hit. Note the building in the background on the upper right, this seems to indicate their were some semi-permanent structures here and if a closeup of same were to be found it could serve to determine the orientation of this photo in relation to the aerodrome.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="1950e860.jpg" border=0 width="526" height="390" ALT="Doug out at Maaten Bagush Corp Norman Say" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  </div> <div> <B>Close up of same picture above, Oct 1941</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="19812ca0.jpg" border=0 width="530" height="202" ALT="Maaten Bagush Aerodrome 113 Squadron" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Oct 1941, Ma'aten Bagush. Titled "Looking Across the Aerodrome"</B></div> <div> This picture was grouped with the two above and was obviously taken at the same time. Considering that, had the photographer swung further right any pictures would have been over exposed, I would guess the two dug out pictures above were taken facing nearly the opposite direction. If correct, this would place the ground crew accomodation area mid point between the permanent building in the top photo and the runway in this photo. (The aircraft above is likely on the runway versus being dispersed here as firstly there is only one, and secondly they would not have the dispersal ground near the tents for obvious reasons.</div> <div> SOURCE: copyright Corp Norman Say<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="1a10b640.jpg" border=0 width="523" height="356" ALT="Evacuation from Greece near Lamia" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Road near Lamia in Greece during the evacuation</B></div> <div> (possibly taken just south of Lamia where the road narrows between mountains at Thermopilai,  it appears to be a lake in the background but I believe these are building roofs) Unknown what is going on here. A convoy of trucks is pulled off to the side of the road and something is burning just around the bend. At Lamia, there were two roads North, the main inland road and a secondary costal road which went East then North, both led into Larisa. Heading South from Lamia was the identical setup with both roads merging at Athens. All were used for the withdrawal of Brittish and allied forces from <B>Larisa</B> during the evacuation. With virtually no opposition from the RAF, the roads often jammed with evacuees and every imaginable form of transport, were unrelentingly bombed by the Germans. In particular, the Australians, 1 Armoured Brigade and New Zeland forces withdrew along these roads which both purposefully and incidentally provided much needed time and protection for all the evacuees south of them that were heading to Athens.  As the 113 aerodrome was in Larisa, obviously the 113 Ground Crew withdrew along these roads as well.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> SOURCE: copyright Corp Norman Say<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>MANY MORE PHOTOS TO COME</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Back to <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#00FFFF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id28_corp_norman_say_lac.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="( P to S )"><U>SQUADRON PERSONNEL</U></A></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id94_m.htm" TITLE="Corp. Norman Say LAC."><U><IMG SRC="22932320.gif" border=0 width="50" height="50" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id94_m.htm" TITLE="Corp. 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