Bomber Command Veterans are to make their annual pilgrimage to East Yorkshire next month.
On the weekend of September 1 and 2, the veterans of 158 Squadron Bomber Command will make their annual visit to Bridlington for the Squadron Reunion.
The squadron was based at Lissett from 1943 until the end of the war.
The Chairman of the Association, Kevin Bryett, said “This year will be particularly special for me. I am named after my father’s pilot, Kevin Hornibrook, an Australian who was killed the night that their plane was shot down over Berlin in August 1943, my father only survived because Kevin gave his life.
“At the reunion I will be meeting for the first time another Kevin whose father was in the same plane and also named his son after the pilot.“
The President, Bluey Mottershead said: “It is always an honour to be involved in the Service of Remembrance at the churchyard in Lissett where we remember our comrades who did not return home.
Each time I see the names on the memorial at Lissett Airfield I remember the people I knew”
Veterans will be coming from the whole of the UK and from Canada and Australia. They will gather on Saturday September 1 at The Expanse Hotel for the Annual Squadron Dinner.
This will be led by their President Squadron Leader “Bluey” Mottershead who received an MBE during the year for his service to the Association.
On Sunday morning they will hold a Service of Remembrance at St James of Compostela Church, Lissett, which will be led by Rev James Grainger-Smith. During the service the veterans will remember the 851 members of the Squadron who gave their lives during the war.
They will also remember those who survived the war but are no longer with us.
The service will be followed by Sunday lunch at The Expanse before they return home.
The 158 Squadron Association continues to grow and although all of the veterans are now in their late 80s, at least, the membership includes children, grandchildren and other relatives of the veterans.