www.military.ie the defence forces magazine
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male medical professionals did not always receive the same
recognition as their male colleagues. She particularly remem-
bers the love and rewarding friendships she experienced
with her comrades and also, with sadness, the many aircrew
who lost their lives during the war. Two of her closest friends
lost their aircrew husbands in combat shortly after having
their first children. Her feelings are summed up in this poem
by AP Herbert about the loss of young air crew:
They are the Boys of whom we said
'They are not what their Fathers were
They have no heart and little head
They slouch and do not cut their hair'
Yet these Falcons live or die
There every night have new renown
And while we heave a single sigh
They shoot a brace of bombers down.
Members of the Women's Auxiliary
Air force (WAAF)
A member of the WAAF tracking an
aircraft on radar
Heather Kennedy with her collegues
of the Women's Auxiliary Air force
(WAAF)