RAF
RAF WWII Man Given Hero's Send-Off After Campaign
Despite being an RAF Flight Sergeant and one of Britain's brave Lancaster bomber tail gunners during World War Two, few people knew about Harry Arrowsmith's achievements.
A Lancaster Bomber
Only 10 people were due to attend his funeral, until details of his heroism were shared on social media.
Now, a friend of the deceased RAF war veteran has been left overwhelmed by the huge and unexpected funeral turnout in Solihull. One of his friends was Steve Warren:
"Knowing Harry most of my life, and knowing what he did, I just felt 10-12 of us turning up at his funeral just wasn't a fitting send-off for a guy like Harry."
Mr Warren said he originally put a modest post out locally to see who might want to attend Harry's funeral.
Harry Arrowsmith
But Steve's post was picked up by the Royal Engineer Facebook pages and was passed on within the RAF. That brought a huge number of people along who wanted to pay their last respects to Harry.
One of the 200 who came along was David Tack, the Vice President of the Birmingham Burma Star Association:
"Being a member of the RAF association as well as the Burma Star, you get to meet all sorts of people. Particularly, we do make a point of attending these events because it's just what they deserve."
RAF Cosford also sent personnel to pay their respects to a man who, too young to fight at the start of the war, became a runner, then joined the RAF as a five-foot-tall tail gunner as soon as he turned 18.
A Lancaster Bomber with the tailgun visible at the rear
Thanks to the efforts made for Harry by his friends, this remarkable World War Two hero has been made known to the world.
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