Ninety-eight-year-old Jim Marshall will join hundreds of families and friends to remember the 55,573 members of Bomber Command on Sunday at a service at the Bomber Command Memorial.
The service at the Memorial in London’s Green Park will include a virtual audience enabling many more veterans to join the proceedings. The service is held annually by the Memorial’s custodian, the RAF Benevolent Fund, to mark the unveiling of the Memorial which was first revealed by Her Majesty The Queen in 2012.
Jim, who lives in the Erskine veterans’ village at Bishopton, joined the RAF aged 18 in 1941, and trained as a navigator flying in Wellingtons with 38 Squadron, serving all over the world. He flew more than 100 operations without incident, until crash landing during a search and rescue mission a month after VE Day had been declared. Jim was the only survivor of his crew.
Jim was so badly burned only one shoe remained and went on to become a member of the Guinea Pig Club, under the care of pioneering plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe.
He said: “The Bomber Command Memorial means everything to me. It is recognition of all my brave comrades who were forgotten after the end of the War. We did our duty and my fallen friends should always be remembered for their sacrifices.
“Although I’m not able to attend the service in person, to be able to join and take part from afar is testament to the RAF Benevolent Fund’s dedication to RAF veterans, working hard to make this happen.”
The service will be led by Reverend (Squadron Leader) Chrissie Lacey and includes wreath laying from representatives from some of the 60 nations who served in Bomber Command as well as Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston.
Fund supporter Sue Holderness, whose own father Anthony served with Bomber Command, will be narrating the livestream, for audience members at home.
RAF Benevolent Fund Controller Air Vice-Marshal Chris Elliot said: “We at the Fund are all hugely proud of the role we have in preserving the memory of all the young men who flew in Bomber Command.
“We are equally as proud of our work in supporting this generation of service personnel and their families, ensuring they can live with dignity and comfort into their twilight years.”
Jim is one of thousands of RAF veterans who are supported by the RAF Benevolent Fund every year. To date, the Fund has granted £125,000 to Erskine Care in support of its work providing care for RAF veterans and their partners in Scotland supporting people like Jim.
To join the Bomber Command Memorial virtual service sign up via the Fund’s website.