13/09/2004

WWI Veteran honours fallen comrades at St Omer

Ninety years after his sojourn in France with the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War, 108-year-old British veteran Henry Allingham made his first return trip at the weekend.

Mr Allingham laid a wreath at a memorial in St Omer which was unveiled by Air Chief Marshal Sir Brian Burridge and Lieutenant General Jean Patrick Gaviard of the Armee de l'Air.

The memorial honours the men of the Royal Flying Corps, Royal Naval Air Service, and Royal Air Force who fought on the Western Front during the war.

St Omer grew into the main British air base during the fighting in France and Belgium in WW1 with as many as 4,000 personnel stationed there by 1918. British airmen suffered their worst losses in 'Bloody April' 1917, with over 8,000 casualties.

(MMCG/GMCG)

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