Harry among veterans honoured during Armed Forces Week
A local veteran of World War Two was among the former and current Armed Forces personnel thanked for their service at a unique celebration marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day in Armed Forces Week.
Thirteen veterans whose service spanned 155 years – within every decade over 80 years, across the Army, Navy, Royal Air Force and Merchant Navy, as a Reserve or regular, and in multiple specialities – were awarded their Veterans’ Badge through North Kesteven District Council’s annual celebration.
Harry Parkins, aged 100, flew 47 operations in the final months of World War Two, exclusively in Avro Lancasters, the last of which was on VE Day itself, dropping food to the starving Dutch on Operation Manna.
Later that same night he met his wife in the festivities of May 8 1945 at Lincoln’s Stonebow, which led to him continuing in the RAF until 1954, in order to stay in Lincolnshire.
In advance of the North Kesteven Veterans’ Lunch in Sleaford Harry was presented with his Veteran’s Badge at the International Bomber Command Centre, Lincoln, by District Council Leader Cllr Richard Wright (pictured above).
An integral member of the Bomber Command community, a sense of Harry’s experiences is included in the interpretation panels alongside the IBCC’s current Lancaster Poppies installation running to the end of August.
Cllr Wright said Harry exemplified the spirit of his age, not only playing an important role in the liberation of Europe, but giving selflessly, heroically and consistently for the welfare and safety of others.
North Kesteven District Council has honoured veterans for the last 20 years and Cllr Wright said it would continue hold the celebration.
“As we commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, in a renewed period of international unrest, our gratitude to service men and women right across the decades holds a greater significance. But we don’t need a 0 or a 5 in an anniversary year, to commemorate our veterans and will be doing so in the 81st, 82nd and 83rd years since VE and VJ Day and all years to come’.
“Commemorating the role of the Armed Forces, and celebrating the individuals of that community – whether that’s serving personnel, veterans, or their partners, children, and wider families – is important to us here in North Kesteven, where we have the second largest population of veterans in the UK, and a significant number of military families living in communities across the District. We appreciate deeply the contribution they all make to life locally and the additional pressures that comes with such unsettled and transitory lives.”