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| William Walker, oldest surviving Battle of Britain pilot 99 https://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=47530 |
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| Author: | Stearman75972 [ Tue Oct 23, 2012 11:22 am ] |
| Post subject: | William Walker, oldest surviving Battle of Britain pilot 99 |
William Walker, oldest surviving Battle of Britain pilot, dies at 99 LONDON—William Walker, whose poem is part of a national monument to his comrades in the Battle of Britain, has died at age 99. The Battle of Britain Trust said Walker died Sunday at home in London. Walker, a Spitfire fighter pilot, was shot down and took a bullet in his right ankle on August 26, 1940, as British pilots engaged a German bomber force. His poem “Our Wall” is inscribed on the memorial on the Dover cliffs to the nearly 3,000 men who flew in the battle from June to October 1940 After retiring as chairman of the Ind Coope brewery, Walker wrote poetry including tributes to the fliers hailed by Winston Churchill: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” Posted: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/artic ... dies-at-99 Here is an article about the poem: Our Wall Each year the following poem (‘Our Wall’) is read out at a service at Capel-le-Fearne in honour of the men who fought in the Battle of Britain and especially those who died in the battle. “Here inscribed the names of friends we knew Young men with whom we often flew. Scrambled to many angels high, They knew that they or friends might die. Many were very scarcely trained, And many badly burnt or maimed. Behind each name a story lies Of bravery in summer skies; Though many brave unwritten tales Were simply told in vapour trails. Many now lie in sacred graves And many rest beneath the waves. Outnumbered every day they flew, Remembered here as just ‘The Few’. The memorial wall was added to the Battle of Britain Memorial (that was unveiled in 1993) in 2005. Nearly 3000 names are engraved on black granite tablets. |
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