THE Kerevan brothers – my father and uncles – went to war against Hitler with a vengeance. One was a merchant sailor who survived the U-boats. Another was with the Long Range Desert Force in North Africa.

My father and Uncle James, both flying enthusiasts, volunteered for the RAF. My dad started with the unit that serviced clapped out Battle of Britain Hurricanes that were pressed into service in the North Atlantic to protect the convoys that were Britain’s lifeline. Later, when the Nazi threat in Europe had been defeated, my father volunteered for the Burma front, keeping the Dakotas flying that dropped supplies to the Allied troops fighting in the jungle. And leaving my mother, also in the Women’s RAF, to fret.

But it was my Uncle James who proved the hero of the family. He was a flight engineer in Lancasters, in 103 Squadron of Bomber Command. His plane did not return from one mission over the Ruhr, a month after the famous Dam Buster raid. His body was never found, nor was that of the pilot.

The flight engineer in a Lancaster sat just behind the pilot and was tasked to go forward in the cockpit to help wrestle the bank of throttles that worked the four mighty Merlin engines that kept the aircraft in the air. I suspect that when James’ Lanc was hit – probably by anti-aircraft fire – he and the pilot stayed at the controls in order to give the rest of the crew a better chance to escape the burning plane.

East Lothian is covered with the silent remains of many wartime RAF airfields – at Drem, Macmerry, Lennoxlove and East Fortune. The rolling farmlands made ideal landing grounds and training spaces. The wartime graves to be found in many of our local churchyards are a poignant testimony to that fact – and to the bravery of those distant years. Distant but not forgotten. As ever, this week, we will honour the Fallen. And, I hope, remember those who came back and still need our help.

There are plans to create a living replica of a First World War Royal Flying Corps airfield, near East Fortune – complete with flying replicas of the aircraft involved. That would be a fabulous way of keeping alive memories of those days and the role played by East Lothian in both world wars. Lest we forget.