I’ll be back for breakfast

In the darkest days of World War II, RAAF man Edgar Pickles was sent to Britain where he flew almost fifty missions with RAF Bomber Command. “I’ll be back for breakfast: The life of war hero Edgar Pickles DFC and Bar” is Edgar’s wartime story – one constructed of pursuits by enemy fighters; of a squadron’s mounting losses; of nursing a crippled plane home with two friends dead in the back and another haemorrhaging from critical injuries; of heroism; of parties and sightseeing; of promotion and decoration. Losses were overwhelming; the RAAF’s Bomber Squadron pilots died in the tens of thousands. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day because if you were at breakfast, your plane hadn't gone down the night before. Edgar's reflections on the war, its aftermath, the humanity of the enemy and his ability to foresee a post-war future, show that under his outward bravado lay a man of depth and perception. He arrived home a hero, flying a crew of drinking buddies and a cargo of contraband. That set the scene for the rest of his life.

Whatever memories he had of the war, he lived the remainder of his life as an adored, if eccentric, man who “bombed” loved ones with Christmas presents dropped from the plane he parked outside his backdoor. Spontaneous and outlandish parties abounded. He was involved in stealing back a plane that had been repossessed; part owned El Questro in the Kimberly; prepared his land for irrigation using a series of different-coloured beer cans and was a popular guest speaker at Anzac Day events. In “I’ll be back for breakfast: the life of war hero Edgar Pickles DFC and Bar”, Di Websdale-Morrissey tells a rollicking tale of one of the last of a generation – a generation that knew the privations of war but made the best life they could once it was over.