WITH reference to the debate on Bomber Command’s strategy in carrying out air raids on German soil, namely Dresden, this has been a poignant reminder of what my wife and myself during infancy had to endure in our respective air raid shelters in York and London.

We endured the Blitz, with all the death and destruction caused by the Luftwaffe to the civilian population of this country, including the Baedeker Raids on cathedral cities, complete with gas masks and on a wing and a prayer.

In London there was the added threat of V1 and V2 rockets, while my father-in-law and others were engaged fighting the enemy on land, sea and air during the European conflict and fighting the Japanese invasion of Burma, Kohima being the decisive battle.

With world domination in mind by the Nazi regime, if it were not for the fortitude of our Commonwealth of Nations and our American allies standing alongside, the swastika would adorn the Mansion House. Lest we forget.

Kenneth Bowker, Vesper Walk, Huntington, York.