Left: Denis Elliott, wearing his medals. Right: Philip Martin
Denis Elliott and I, Philip Martin, decided to produce a book about his unbelievable life and to build this website in order to, among other things, help shine a light on the British war effort in the Far East during the Second World War and as a tribute to all those with whom he served with in the RAF.
Over an intense period of many months, Denis honestly and deeply opened up to me about every aspect of his life, culminating in a fascinating book, in Denis’s own words, that takes you from an austere London orphanage to the skies above such locales as England, Africa, Malta, India, Burma, and Malaya, all told in Denis’s own words, to civvie street back in the UK after he separated from the RAF in 1957.
I can honestly say that Denis threw everything he had into this project. Working closely with me, he discussed every stage in the process of creating our book, no matter how big or small, and he even presented me with ideas for this website.
There were numerous stories that Denis told that I had not heard before, many of which are truly unbelievable (like waking up on a train in Malaya to find a bullet on the floor and the bullet hole in the carriage just above his back), and, which according to him, had been locked away for decades.
It is a genuine honour and the greatest privilege of my life to have worked on this project with a true hero, who has overcome such adversity, and I hope that you will enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it.