A Story from the Second World War


"If there is anyone who still wonders why this war is being fought, let him look to Norway;
"If there is anyone who has any delusions that this war could have been averted, let him look to Norway;
"And if there is anyone who doubts the democratic will to win, again I say, let him look to Norway."

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, September 1942

The original version of this website was based on the wartime story of Flying Officer George F. Deeth, 1921 - 1996, who wrote his memoirs about his wartime experiences long after the end of the war. The story as told by F/O Deeth touched on the lives and experiences of many other people, some of whom had reported on the same stories from the perspective of their own involvement at the time.

This new and continuously evolving version of the website includes some of these other recollections and stories about this remarkable adventure, including that of Harvey “Red” Firestone, one of the “six”, and those of some of the “helpers”, men and women of the Norwegian underground, who risked their lives to get six sacks of potatoes back across the North Sea to Scotland.

Each page of each version of the story seems to lead to other stories that must be told, stories of friends, some named, some not, some who came home again and some who did not; stories of those who stayed home and every day risked their lives in defence of their occupied homeland; and stories of aircraft, repaired again and again until they, too, got old and slipped quietly into the sea.

We are helped in this by the wartime bureaucracy of the RAF - pilots' logbooks and operations reports, squadron activity reports, and summaries of those activities, now digitized and available online, and the remarkable records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. In these records we find the names of young airmen, some on their first missions, recorded in logbooks with the dates of their operations, their "time up" and "time down", in some cases with an empty space for "time down", with a simple annotation - Did Not Return.

I have also been helped in this by sons of other crew members: Gary and Rick Firestone, sons of Harvey Firestone, James Grandy, son of George Grandy and Devon Biddle, son of Gord Biddle. We continue to look for other relatives of the crew so that the story can be told in full. In recent months, I have obtained much assistance from Bjarne Øvredal, son of Haldor Øvredal, Matts Hjelle, son of Jakob Hjelle, and Gaute Dyrdal, all of Os, Norway, and all dedicated to keeping this story alive among the people in their community and beyond

I have added to this collection, courtesy of Rick and Gary Firestone, Arnfinn Haga's version of the story, translated from the original Norwegian. Mr. Haga's story of the rescue incorporated substantial material from Harvey Firestone's original version of the crew's story entitled "Flight to Nowhere". It has some elements of the story that are not found in any of the other accounts. These are noted, where appropriate.

I have also added here, with the consent of Gary Firestone, an English translation of Nødlanding ("Night Landing"), also written by Arnfinn Haga and published by Cappelen Damm publishers in Norway. The Norwegian version was copyrighted by CAPPELEN DAMM AS in 2010. I The English translation of Arnfinn Haga's work incorporates not only much of Harvey's original material, but additional information to make the story and the setting more understandable to people who are not familiar with Norway, and the story of the Norwegian resistance.

I have also included other, somewhat fictionalized accounts of the story, perhaps enhanced to boost morale in a very difficult time. These too are included here, annotated to identify elements of that version of the story that do not appear to be supported by the facts as we know them now.

We continue to find records made contemporaneously with or shortly after the events of 1944. Some of these have the advantage of being written while memories were fresh, but the writers also lacked some of the information that was known to others and that has come to light in more recent years.

The impact of the events of 1944 on those involved was long-lasting, leading to friendships that lasted long after the war, and to reunions and celebrations that have continued to this day. Some of these events are reported here as well.

During the preparation of these accounts of a remarkable rescue for publication on this website, some differences and discrepancies between these accounts were noted, some editing was done, and some comments and additional information and photographs were added.Those corrections and additions are noted where appropriate.

Over the course of the last several months, the website has outgrown its menu system, and a more detailed description of what is contained in this website is on the next page, here.

There is much more to be done.

Douglas N. Deeth, November 2019.

Stacks Image 5

Back Row, Left to Right: Harvey "Red" Firestone; Ken Graham; George Grandy
Front Row, Left to Right: George F. Deeth; Gord Biddle; Maurice Neil


If you have any comments or questions about this website, please get in touch with me using the Comments page, here.


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