READING the recent correspondence on the Dresden bombing reminded me of a visit which I made there some years ago.

The city’s ruined and subsequently rebuilt Frauenkirche was the centrepiece symbol of that near destruction. Below ground in its crypt, much of the original stonework remains, still blackened by the firestorm.

Doubtless some of the RAF crew were gravely conscious of the price that was being paid by the civilian population. One wonders whether some of the Luftwaffe crew who came on air raids over England felt the same way.

One of those German crew members was Willie Schludeker, who made a series of reparation visits after the war to English cities which he had been ordered to attack, including York.

On his last visit in 2007, I read in The Press of his impending arrival, and managed to arrange with his hosts for a visit to Poppleton Road Memorial Hall, which I help to manage.

The hall was founded in 1946 to commemorate local servicemen killed on active service, plus civilian casualties of the Baedeker air raid.

Willie arrived and I gave him a booklet about the hall, plus a map of local bomb sites. Willie had brought his dress uniform, jacket and cap. After seeking my agreement, he donned these, stood to attention and saluted our memorial plaque, then gave a donation for the hall.

It was an incredibly moving gesture, and typifies the good side of humankind that can still emerge from conflict.

Paul Hepworth, Windmill Rise, York.