A former Bomber Command air navigator from Dover is calling on people to support plans for a national memorial to his fallen colleagues.

“There are beautiful and well-deserved memorials to Fighter Command the Battle of Britain at Capel and on the Embankment in London,” said John Funnell, of Orchard Close, Whitfield, who served with 103 Squadron.

“It is right that the bravery of these men, The Few, should be recognised and remembered by all of us.”

Apart from a memorial stone in Lincoln Cathedral and a plaque at the foot of a statue or Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Harris in The Strand, London, there is no national memorial to commemorate the service the air and ground crews rendered to this country.

“In some French villages, where our bomber aircrews lie interred in the local graveyard, their names are inscribed on the village war memorial and they are honoured as Children of the Village.

“They are not honoured in this country,” said Mr Funnell who is 84 today (Wednesday).