Remembering brave at Lynn dinner
LOCAL troops returning from Afghanistan were in the thoughts of former servicemen at the Royal Norfolk and Royal Anglian Regiment Association annual dinner in Lynn on Friday.
About 80 veterans from across the country who gathered at the Town Hall for the occasion observed two minutes silence in memory of nine Royal Anglians who lost their lives in the fighting.
Guests included a former Lynn man, Captain Clifford Fisher, who served in Burma and Europe during the war.
READ ALSO: Homecoming celebration still up in air
He said he was delighted to see the Royal Anglians return from their six-month tour of duty in Helmand Province and hoped the regiment would not be returning to Afghanistan.
Mr Fisher (85), who now lives in Eastbourne in Sussex, said: "They should be home here really. I do not want to see our men getting killed out there."
The dinner was organised by former members of the Royal Norfolk Regiment in the Lynn area. They included Mr Frank Madle, of Snettisham, who said the return of the Royal Anglians was much talked about by guests.
A speech was also given by Colonel Tony Taylor, of the Royal Anglian Regiment, who is organising two homecoming parades for the returning troops in Norwich and Bury St Edmunds.
Mr Madle (87), said many of the ex-servicemen at the dinner planned to attend the parades.
He has helped to organise the regimental dinner since the tradition started 62 years ago. "I thought it was the best one I have ever been to. It was lovely to see all the old boys again," he said.
Guests included three members of the 7th Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment who went to France to fight in 1940. The oldest ex-serviceman present was a former Japanese prisoner-of-war now aged 93.
Mr Madle's fellow organisers were: Mr David Bowett, of Holme; Mr Henry Footer, of Terrington St Clement; Mr Len James, of Fairstead, Lynn; and Mr Richard Blyth, of Lynn.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for King's Lynn
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 26 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North
