BOMBERS: Reaping The Whirlwind
WITH MUSIC BY JUSTIN HISCOX
BOMBERS: Reaping The Whirlwind is a large-cast, historical drama about the young men and women who served in Canada’s Bomber Command during WWII. Including twenty original and period songs, the story is told through the memories of Peter Benton who, at 94, has bitterly repressed his war experiences. The arrival of a young woman from England, with photographs of his crew, brings his past to life. We see Young Peter going through pilot training, sailing to England, meeting his crew and a girl, Emma Ross, whom he passionately loves and want to marry. Peter and his crew fly dozens of harrowing missions through the flak and fighter-filled skies of Occupied Europe until they are shot down over Berlin. Peter is the only survivor. After eighteen months in a POW camp, he returns to England and discovers that Emma, believing him to be dead, has married. He pleads with her to leave her husband but she refuses. She has a nine-month-old child and is pregnant. Peter, heartbroken, returns to Canada and discovers a nation eager to criticize Bomber Command for the destruction of cities like Dresden and Hamburg. He throws his medals into Halifax harbour. However, by reliving his memories, Old Peter is changed. He sees the good and the bad of his service. He can finally forgive himself for the loss of his crew. And even his memory of Emma Ross is softened when the young woman from England is revealed to be his great-granddaughter. BOMBERS honours the men and women who served in Bomber Command, Canada’s largest and deadliest contribution to the Second World War. It asks us to reflect on what we’ve done, and what we continue to do, to pay the price of freedom.