News

Veterans Gather at Bomber Command Memorial to Honour 55,573 Fallen Airmen

More than 200 Bomber Command veterans and their families gathered to remember their fallen comrades at a service at Bomber Command Memorial in London’s Green Park on Sunday.

The annual service remembers the 55,573 airmen of Bomber Command who were killed during the Second World War and is held on the anniversary of the Memorial’s unveiling by Her Majesty the Queen in 2012. The service, led by Canon Brian Lucas, is organised by the RAF Benevolent Fund, the RAF’s leading welfare charity and guardians of the Memorial.

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D-Day veterans invited to register for 75th Anniversary

On the 74th anniversary of the Normandy Landings veterans of D-Day are invited to register to take part in commemorations planned for June 2019.

The sailors, marines, soldiers and airmen who helped pave the way for the liberation of Europe have been honoured on the 74th anniversary of the Normandy Landings.

Services of remembrance were held in Bayeux, France to mark 74 years since Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy on 6th June 1944, paving the way for the liberation of France and the end of the Second World War.

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Blind veteran who escaped WWII PoW camp publishes book about his wartime experiences

A Kent blind veteran who escaped a Prisoner of War camp has published a book about his wartime experiences.

Frank Unwin, 97 and from Orpington, authored the book ‘Escaping Has Ceased to be a Sport: A Soldier’s Memoir of Captivity and Escape in Italy and Germany’ which covers his several escapes from Italian forces and the bravery of the Italian peasants who sheltered him while he was on the run. The memoir also details his brutal experience of detention in a work camp in Germany and his participation in ‘The Long March’ in the spring of 1945.

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4th – 8th June 2018 – Veterans to visit Normandy to remember the most memorable wartime operation ever planned

The 6th June 1944 is fixed in the memory of WWII veterans as the date of one of the most important wartime operations ever planned and executed. In June this year, twenty-five veterans will be visiting Normandy, courtesy of the Taxi Charity, to remember the part they played and the friends and comrades they lost seventy-four years ago.

In the week after their appearance on Britain’s Got Talent supporting The D Day Darlings on 28 May an amazing group of nonagenarians will be visiting the scene of The D Day Landings in Normandy.

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Tributes paid to brave Dambusters raid airmen

Today marks 75 years since the RAF’s now legendary Dambusters set off on their audacious raid to destroy three German dams at the heart of the Nazi war machine.

Fifty-three pairs of gloves laid out by the RAF Benevolent Fund at the Bomber Command Memorial were a stark reminder of the lives lost that night, the families left without a loved one. RAF Chaplain Michael Chatfield paid tribute to the 133 brave airmen who set off on the raid in 1943 and RAF bugler Corporal Andrew Lofthouse signalled a minute’s silence with the Last Post.

RAF Benevolent Fund Director of Fundraising and Communications John Trampleasure laid a wreath in memory of the airmen killed.

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Veterans to return to World War Two scene of Arctic Convoys

Three veterans in their nineties will travel to Wester Ross today to attend a special annual ceremony on Sunday to commemorate the Russian Arctic Convoys of the Second World War; an event that claimed 3,000 lives.

The trio, who are making the trip thanks to the Unforgotten Forces project which supports older veterans and their families in Scotland, have become close friends and will also enjoy a three-night stay at a hotel in Gairloch as part of a new “Break Away” service.

Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, which brought the Western Allies together to provide essential support and supplies to the Soviet forces.

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Widnes blind veteran to take on 22-mile walk along D-Day beaches for military charity

A blind veteran from Widnes is currently training for a 22-mile walk along on the Normandy coastline to commemorate the anniversary of D-Day.

Carl Adamson, 44, will take part in the event alongside five other blind veterans supported by Blind Veterans UK, the national charity for vision-impaired ex-Service men and women. The challenge will take place on 6 June, the anniversary of the 1944 Allied invasion of occupied France.

Carl says: “I’ve been training on the North Wales costal path, which I think should put me in good stead for the Normandy beaches.

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Poppyscotland

ANZACs and Gallipoli remembered at touching service

In a touching show of comradeship and remembrance today, representatives from all sides came together to attend the annual ANZAC and Gallipoli Day Service at the Scottish National War Memorial, at Edinburgh Castle, organised by Legion Scotland.

Observed on the 25th of April each year, ANZAC Day was originally devised to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.

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Army Veteran receives highest French honour for WW2 service

France’s highest military honour has been bestowed on Army veteran, Arthur Ogden. The prestigious Legion d’honneur medal was presented to Arthur for his contribution to the liberation of France during the Second World War. Arthur is a resident at The Royal Star & Garter Homes in Solihull, a Charity that provides specialist care for veterans and their partners who live with disability or dementia.

To celebrate Arthur’s award, the Home organised a tea party in his honour.

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