A POIGNANT farewell has finally been given to an airman who gave his life for his country more than 70 years ago.

Sergeant Wilfred Lawson was given a full military funeral at the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery in Berlin - the city he was on a mission to bomb before his aircraft was shot from the sky.

He was a crew member of a Lancaster bomber - LL721 - which took off from RAF Linton-on-Ouse shortly after 6pm on January 27, 1944, to bomb the German capital.

But the bomber was intercepted by a night-fighter while still heading for its target and was attacked three times, crashing in flames near the town of Karcha.

Several of the crew managed to bail out and three became prisoners-of-war. Two other crew members were killed when their parachutes failed to open and two more were unaccounted for.

However, their remains were discovered in September 2014 by the Vermisstenforschung Deutschland, a German group interested in researching those missing in war.

Although there were no identifying items found with the remains, the site was known to be where LL721 had crashed and it was possible to identify Sgt Lawson’s remains through DNA analysis of his distant surviving family.

Sgt Lawson was originally from Penrith in Cumbria, but later moved to Yorkshire and was just 25 when he died.

He joined the RAF in July 1936 - after working for an ironmonger - progressing through the ranks to Sergeant by the time of his death.

The Berlin service was led by Reverend Rebekah Cannon, chaplain of RAF College Cranwell, was attended by representatives of the Royal Air Force, the British Embassy in Berlin and the Royal British Legion.

Current members of the Queen’s Colour Squadron paid tribute to their former colleague by providing a bearer party for his coffin.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission provided his headstone - and will now care for his final resting place in perpetuity.