On Sunday 10th November thousands of people turned out to commemorate Remembrance Sunday at services being held across the district.
Chairman of Tandridge District Council , Cllr. Beverley Connolly, attended the service at St. John's Church in Caterham accompanied by the Chief Executive of Tandridge District Council, Louise Round and Sam Gyimah, MP. Cllr. Connolly then travelled up to Kenley Airfield to lay a wreath at the Kenley Tribute along with the Mayor of Croydon, Cllr. Yvette Hopley and other representatives from civil and military organisations.
Amongst the veterans laying wreaths at the Kenley Tribute was Mr Victor Milner who was a ground crew member of 615 squadron at Kenley Airfield during the war. Victor was at the airfield on 'the hardest day' of the Battle of Britain when the airfield suffered extensive damage on the ground from Luftwaffe bombers, with all 10 hangars, including 10 Hurricanes, destroyed.
Looking back on the day, Victor said: “I was upset because me and my mate had just finished weeks of work repairing a Spitfire and were due to take it out for a test flight that afternoon. The hangar it was in took a direct hit from a German bomber and the plane was destroyed.”
For more information about Kenley Airfield and the role it played during WWII visit www.historylearningsite.co.uk/raf_kenley.htm
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