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'Moving' Remembrance Day service in Englefield Green
Hundreds of poppy-wearers observed two-minutes silence at one of the most picturesque memorials in the county for Remembrance Day yesterday (Sunday, November 8).
At 11am, more than two hundred people made no peep as Reveille piped out and filled the grounds of the Royal Air Forces Memorial on Cooper's Hill, Englefield Green, where the names of 20,000 service men who lost their lives fighting for their country are etched on its walls.
Mayor of Runnymede, Councillor Paul Tuley and chief executive of Runnymede Borough Council, Paul Turrell, were guests at the morning service, which attracts people from far and wide to come and pay their respects, lay wreathes and remember their friends and loved ones who died in combat.
Flight lieutenant Denis Evans, made the trip to Englefield Green from Watford, to remember his comrades from 117 Squadron, which was based in Hemswell, Lincolnshire. The ex-Lancaster pilot has been coming to the service here on Cooper's Hill for more than two decades.
He said: "It's always an emotional time, coming here.
"I usually come here and meet up with friends from my squadron, but there's only about 20 of us now - there was 150 of us orginally."
During the poignant service, special guest, Squadron Leader Jimmy James of 216 Squadron, made a couple of readings.
Sergeant James had been pilot of a Bristol Bombay transport aircraft in Alamein, North Africa in `1942. His aircraft was shot down by Germans who had targeted his prized cargo - General William Gott - Churchill's newly appointed general in charge of operations in North Africa.
All but three of the aircraft's crew were killed, including General Gott, when the unarmed plane crash landed in the desert and was strafed by Messersmitt fighter planes.
"I have been trying to track down the other two who survived the crash," he explained, "But I found one of them on the wall here a few years back - I had been looking for him since 1942."
"I'm just there as a guest today, but it is very good to see such a nice crowd of people here."
Sgt James walked seven miles across the desert following the crash, before being picked up by an Arab who rode him back to safety on his camel.
At the end of the service, Mayor of Runnymede, Cllr Paul Tuley, said he was delighted with turn out that morning.
He said: "I am very pleased that it was once again a very well attended ceremony.
"The wreath-laying really is a very moving thing too, and it was nice to be a part of it."
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