MIKE Usherwood laments that there is no day of commemoration to recognise the sacrifice of Bomber Command (Letters, July 17).

Perhaps the reason is because a sense of guilt accompanies that sacrifice. When the war began, Hitler and the Nazis were the beasts, but toward the end the Allies had become a ruthless killing machine.

We delivered a conveyer-belt of bombs to 100 German cities and their civilians. Firestorms from incendiaries fell from the skies on to defenceless people, melting them into the asphalt ground and incinerating thousands cowering in cellars.

The phosphorus used in the bombs would set anything alight and anyone jumping into canals for relief would continue to burn when they came out.

One reference is of a mother and daughter wishing to run to one another but couldn’t as they were melted to the spot. When some bombing crews realised the carnage they had been a part of they were remorseful, with certain crew members refusing to bomb any more.

War is hell and perhaps a more fitting memorial would be a statue to warn of the folly of war – the mother and daughter and their helplessness springs to mind.

T Scaife, Manor Drive, York.