they didn't talk about it at all,
and I knew very, very little.
I knew that he'd flown, I had no idea the extent.
I did know that he had received a medal.
And my mother had told me
that he had thrown it into the Thames.
Not out of any contempt for the RAF or for the war,
but out of profound survivor's guilt,
and the idea that he would have been singled out
to be given this great honor when so many of his friends
and so many men and women had died.
My father threw his medals into the Thames
Minnie Driver is an English actress and singer-songwriter. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Gus van Sant's Good Will Hunting (1997) for her role as Skylar, and an Emmy Award and Golden Globe for her work in the television series The Riches (2007-2008). Her film work includes Sleepers, Big Night, Grosse Pointe Blank, Tarzan, Return to Me, Ella Enchanted, The Phantom of the Opera, Conviction, Barney's Version, and Beyond the Lights. She spoke to historian Joshua Levine about her father's role with Bomber Command during the Second World War.
| Role Bomber Crew | Age 25 |
PTSD wasn't a recognised term in 1939
Minnie DriverBomber Command never felt they were as beloved as fighter pilots.
Minnie DriverMy father suffered terribly with PTSD
Minnie Driver
Skipper! Quick - dive!
Alfred HubermanThe worst experience I ever had
Alfred Huberman
The German's acted as if they'd won the war
Ralph Levy
My father changed his name by deed poll
I was born a Jew and I wanted to die a Jew
Alfred Huberman
They crashed into the sea off the Dutch coast
The South China Sea was rife with pirates
