Lest We Forget

My Grandparents, circa 1940

I never really asked my Grandfather much about the war. He told me a couple of stories so I know he was based in Egypt for some of WWII and was a doctor in the RAAF. A few years ago my father gave me my grandfathers medals and a certificate from when he signed up with the RAAF.
From what I can gather, when war broke out, my grandfather, a young doctor who was recently married and had a pregnant wife, decided to sign up to the RAAF as a doctor. I'm not sure if my grandmother was consulted in the decision at all but it was quite a big decision either way. My Grandfather was posted to Egypt to help out in what I'm guessing was a hospital located at an airbase. I'm not sure if it was a proper brick and mortar hospital or a tent or something in between. 
The story that I remember the most and has stuck with me is a relatively short one but I always remember it on ANZAC day.
"When things were quiet at the hospital, I was often allowed to go with some friends of mine on bombing runs. One day I asked my superior officer if I could go for a bombing run with my friends and he refused as it was too busy in the hospital and they couldn't spare me. My friends never came back that day." And that was all he really said to me before we went on doing other things around his house. I'm not sure if it was the same day as he told me that story or another day, but I remember asking him why he didn't march in the ANZAC Day parades each year. He told me that he didn't want to march as he was only a doctor and didn't see any of the fighting, or words to that effect.
I imagine being a doctor at an airbase, whilst he didn't see any of the fighting, he would have seen plenty of the physical and psychological damage done to those who had. Although he never took the life of a soldier, I'm sure he comforted those who he couldn't save in the last moments of their lives and saved countless other lives that would possibly have been lost if not for his care. I hope that my children never have to know the pain and hardship that my grandfather went through with the war and the depression that followed.
I'm going to get my grandfathers medals and certificate framed and put them up in the house somewhere. I want to display them and for my children to understand what they represent.

Bomber
Lest we forget.