HMS Illustrious enjoys a near miss from German and Italian dive bombers.  The ship was almost sunk but the crew did a fine job of fighting the ship and she was saved to fight another day.  The Illustrious eventually served in the Pacific with the British Pacific fleet in support of American landings at Iwo Jima and Okanawa.  She survived Japanese suicide bombers as well

HMS Illustrious in combat in Med

HMS Illustrious in combat against German and Italian dive bombers in the Mediteranian from the collection of Jim Sellars RM.

HMS Illustrious in combat

This is a photo of my dads Royal Marine platoon on arrival back in Britain from Burma.  For some reason my dad was ordered to remove his "Canada" flashes from his uniform before this inspection.  My father resented that to his dying day as he proudly served as a Canadian in the Royal Marines in Italy and Burma with his shoulder flashes proudly displayed.  My father is the marine behind King George with the X above his head, note no shoulder flashes.