John Vere Hopgood was born August 29, 1921, the son of Harold and Grace Hopgood. He had at least two sisters, one of whom, Elizabeth, remembered: "I can remember him as a little boy, sort of getting in a panic over things. As a small child, he used to cry a lot," she said. "But when he got into the RAF it was incredible how he managed to control it." "He found his feet in the RAF." Hopgood joined the RAF in 1940 and trained as a pilot, serving in Bomber Command in 50 Squadron and 106 Squadron, the latter commanded by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, who was a great friend of his. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar to the DFC during his service. He was one of the first pilots Gibson chose for 617 Squadron. As the backup for Gibson at the Mohne Dam, Hopgood knew that the flak would be ready and waiting, and he expressed to his friend, fellow pilot David Shannon, that he would not return from the mission. His aircraft was in fact shot up before their arrival at the dam; the front gunner was probably killed, the wireless operator was very severely wounded, the rear gunner wounded, and Hopgood himself was hit in the head, a wound of unknown severity but very bloody judging by the remarks of his flight engineer who was trying to staunch the flow. Having come so far, Hopgood elected to press on. After Gibson made the first run at the dam with no result, Hopgood lined up for his run. As he'd suspected, the flak gunners now knew the drill and were waiting for him. His Lancaster was badly shot up and set on fire; the Upkeep mine actually bounced over the dam and blew up the power station at its base. Hopgood struggled to keep the aircraft aloft long enough for the others to bail out; bomb aimer John Fraser went out the front escape hatch; the altitude was so low that he opened his chute in the aircraft, threw it out the hatch, and let it drag him out. The rear gunner, Pilot Officer Burcher, climbed out of his turret and found that the horribly wounded wireless operator, Minchin, had somehow crawled back to the rear exit. Burcher pushed him out, pulling his rip cord as he went out the door, then he reported to Hopgood that he was bailing out. "For Christ's sake get out!" Hopgood shouted, and Burcher opened his chute in the airplane as Fraser had; just as he was about to go out the door the Lancaster blew up. Minchin did not survive, but Burcher and Fraser became POWs. There is no question in my mind that John Vere Hopgood richly deserved the Victoria Cross, but no awards were made to any of the killed aircrew from Chastise, an injustice to this day. As an indication of how his crew felt about him, bomb aimer Fraser named his first son John Hopgood Fraser, and his daughter Shere, after the town where Hopgood had grown up. Flight Lieutenant John Vere Hopgood, DFC and Bar, is buried with four other members of his crew in Rheinburg War Cemetery, Germany.
Susan Paxton 
