On the night of June 12/13  Mynarski and the rest of his crew were flying a new Canadian built Lancaster into France . On June 13th, on the crews 13th mission at 13 minuites after midnight they were attacked by a Ju-88 night fighter.

     Cannon fire knocked out two engines and started a large fire in the fuselage . The pilot ordered the crew to bail out .

        The following is the last part of the official citation for the medal....

    The Lancaster hit hard and cart wheeled . The bombs went off in a spectacular explosion . The crash broke open Brophy's turret and threw him into a tree. He was dazed but miraculously he was otherwise unhurt.

    It took time for the story of Mynarski's bravery to work its way through official channels.   It was not until 1946 that the decision was made to award him the Victoria Cross.

   Pat Brophy , praying fervently , was alone , trapped in a large bomber full of high explosive and lots of fuel headed for the ground at high speed .

    Pilot Officer Mynarski must have been fully aware that in trying to free the rear gunner he was almost certain to lose his own life, with outstanding courage and complete disregard for his own safety, he went to the rescue .  Willingly accepting the danger , Pilot Officer Mynarski lost his life by a most conspicuous act of heroism which called for valor of the highest order.

    With out hesitation Mynarski moved down the cramped and burning fuselage to help free his friend . Using first a fire ax and then his bare hands he tried desperatly  to free Brophy.

Andrew Mynarski                         Victoria Cross


    When it was clear that nothing would work Mynarski , his clothes and parachute  on fire , crawled back up the fuselage and bailed out .

    Pat Brophy fought along side the French resistance for two months before returning to England. Four members of the crew were taken to England by the resistance and two were captured by the Germans .

     Crew members from the front of the plane got out safely. Mynarski was just about to bail out through the aircraft's side door when he looked down the burning fuselage and saw that the tail gunner , his good friend Pat Brophy  was trapped.

     The hydraulic system was shot out and the manual release to let the gunner out of the turret had malfunctioned .

    He was a mid upper gunner in Squadron 419, Sean's first operational squadron. By the summer of 1944 their two engine Wellingtons had been replaced first by Halifaxes and then by Lancasters .


Bomber Command R.C.A.F.  F/LT  Sean Dunn


    He died several hours later in a Germanfield hospital of severe burns. He was 27.

     Andrew Mynaraki was a pleasant soft spoken man from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He joined the RCAF in 1941 and was sent to England in 1943.