Depression has been the disease that has plagued humanity since the dawn of times. And in our modern days depression has become so frequent, that people get immensely depressed over things that sometimes don’t really deserve being depressed about!
Throughout life, people walk the earth, the sort of people who would astonish, surprise and leave your jaws just dropping from the amount of accomplishment and sheer they will have..One of these people can easily be Douglas Bader..
Two questions should be asked here, who is Douglas Bader? And Why Douglas Bader?
I am more than happy to answer those 2 questions.. But first let us begin with a small intro.. In life we all have role models the obvious ones but I like to classify role models into two categories. The first is higher powered beings sent by God Almighty (Prophets & Messengers) these are the miracle makers that we learn a lot from, but by the end of the day you know you can’t be any of them, they were specifically chosen people, they are very important yet they’re really far to fetch. And the second category is the examples we see and come across every day, people we can easily relate to or feel like “I can do that or get there one day!”.
So now that the introduction is done, let us move on to who is Douglas Bader? Or better said Sir Douglas Bader. Born on February 10th 1921 in Saint John’s Wood North West of London. Douglas’s father died in 1922 and his mother remarried shortly after to Reverend Ernest Williams Hobbs.
When Douglas was young, he was the kind of boy who had a thing for sports, but he also had a knack for something else! Dares. He never turned down a dare because he always believes that it would be a life changing challenge. And because of that, his elder brother Fredrick used to dare him all the time knowing that he would get caught and punished.
This one time Douglas and Fredrick were playing with a ball the flew over a fence with pikes, and Fredrick dares Douglas to go fetch it. When Douglas went to get the ball on his way back he got impaled on one of the pikes. When their nany went over to get Douglas, Douglas was silent on their way back.
Douglas Joined the St. Edward’s school
At school Douglas found himself in all the diverse sports and excelled at every sport the school had to offer, making him appear in the times magazine! Douglas was a very intelligent kid but he didn’t like to put much effort into studying. He wanted to do nothing but play sports.
On his summer vacation he met a relative who introduced him to flying, and since that day he was fascinated by the whole concept. Later on his mother couldn’t afford to send him to flying school, but after he graduated secondary school at st. Edwards, one of his masters eventually drove Douglas to join the RAF by promising him to help with his school fees if he pushes himself in his studies. Douglas worked very hard, he did everything he can to keep track of both his studying and sports.
Douglas then joined the RAF college (The Royal British Air Force) at Cranwell in 1928.
Bader did very well in college. He joined different sport teams, and also found a passion for aerobatic flying. By 1930 he was assigned to squadron No.23. He then visited the Reading Areo club in 1931, where he was challenged to do aerobatics over the base, knowing how they had strict rules to never preform over the base. But we all know what he did, he took the challenge and while he was doing a maneuver at a low level he crashed. The crash resulted in losing his both legs. Douglas was 21 at that time.
As we all know in 1931 science and technology in artificial limbs wasn’t really as advanced as nowadays. Douglas had collided with depression, feeling like his entire life has ended, he wanted nothing more in his life but to fly! He then broke up with his girlfriend at the time because he felt like it would be wrong to her stay with him out of pity.
However, after hearing that he had an appointment with a doctor who can make his artificial legs, he fought back and became more optimistic that life can actually turn around again. When Douglas finally puts on his cast, the doctor kindly handed him a cane to help him walk, Douglas got mad and threw the cane refusing to walk with any support whatsoever. He only allowed the nurses to help him.
And before you know it, he did it, he learned to walk with the stumps with no aid whatsoever. Later on he tried applying to RAF again, but was denied. In 1940 WW2 started, so he decided to apply again and finally he got accepted. They couldn’t believe that even with no legs he could still fly like a pro. Bader was assigned to a squadron the 242 thought it was a joke sending them a leader with no legs. But Bader not only did he prove himself as a leader, he let them know that he was just as good as any of the pilots on duty.
He had them refitted with proper gear and planes and even had them tailor new suites to look smart on the base, at his own expense. Bader was given the privilege of leading 300 aircrafts in a victory parade over London in 1945 after the war ended. He dedicated his life to helping the handicapped deal with their lives.
Bader died in 1982 and “Never walked with a stick.”
A man with no legs who proved that in determination you can find a way…
