Bombers were often targeted from underneath and behind, with many rear gunners killed during the war.
“When I first started I was nervous,” Ronnie said. “Then you got used to it when you had flown several times.
“But depending on the target you went to, it could get pretty rough.”
He always carried a bag of lucky charms, with a pilot telling him to leave the plane to fetch them before take-off after forgetting them on one occasion.
“We used to take them on every mission,” Ronnie added. “He said, ‘We are not going until you get out and get those lucky charms’.
“So I climbed down and got them.”
Ronnie emigrated in 1952 to the US, where he worked as milkman and a salesman and had two sons, Derek and Mike.
His wife Margaret died 28 years ago, with Ronnie now living in Bakersfield.
The home organised a special event in his honour, with his great-niece Angie Burns travelling from Yorkshire to visit him.
“I feel really proud of Ronnie and I want to world to know about him and his story and for him not to be forgotten,” she said.
“His service and his duty at such a young age, his whole war story needs to be told.
“I feel very blessed and proud that we still have Ronnie here.”
