AS Orange paused to remember those who lost their lives in war, one former Orange resident released a memoir about her late father.
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Wendy Gruner now lives outside Toronto in Canada, but she grew up in Orange as the second daughter of orchardists Arthur and Enid Plowman, nee Hawke, before her father felt compelled to enlist during World War II and joined RAF Bomber Command as a pilot officer.
Her book, Children of a Faraway War, released on Remembrance Day, chronicles the travels she took across the UK eight years ago with her sister, Robyn, treading the ground where their father trained and took leave.
For the sisters, who are now in their 70s, the wartime diary was a chance to find out more about the father they barely knew.
My mother really never recovered from losing him.
- Wendy Gruner
"It seemed like she was surrounded by a no-go sign and we didn't ask, she remarried after five years and that added another layer.
"When I was eight or nine, I found a box of the letters - they were heavily redacted and my mother saw, I think she burned them because she felt it was very private.
"If we had those letters, we would have learned so much more."
Bomber Command suffered much criticism for incurring civilian casualties while aiming for military targets and crews were only expected to last 16 missions.
Pilot Officer Plowman died returning from a mission to Germany at just 27.
"He wasn't obliged to go because he was in a protected industry," Mrs Gruner said.
"He waited quite awhile, but he couldn't stand it anymore."
While 27 is considered young now, Mrs Gruner said he was considered a father figure in the air force, where many of the volunteers were only 19.
"His nickname was Old Man Canobolas, or the Canobolas Kid they sometimes called him," she said.
Children of a Faraway War was published by Toronto publisher Iguana Books and is also available online through Amazon.
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