Remembrance service for airmen held in Middleton St George

Members of the Canadian air force have attended a memorial service to commemorate the 1,266 fliers who died operating from a North East airfield during the Second World War.

The remembrance service took place at the Mynarski statue, outside the old St George Hotel in Middleton St George on Saturday.

Among those attending were top brass from the Royal Canadian Air Force 419 squadron which was based at RAF Middleton St George during the war, along with Group Captain Gareth Prendergast, commanding officer from RAF Leeming.

The event, which took place for the first time since the start of the pandemic, is held each year close to June 13, which was the date in 1944 on which Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski won a posthumous Victoria Cross for his valiant efforts to save a crew member trapped in a stricken Lancaster bomber.

The Northern Echo: The annual memorial service in remembrance of the WWII Canadian airmen at the Mynarski statue, Teesside airport. Photograph: Stuart Boulton/The Northern Echo. The annual memorial service in remembrance of the WWII Canadian airmen at the Mynarski statue, Teesside airport. Photograph: Stuart Boulton/The Northern Echo.

Geoff Hill, of the Middleton St George Memorial Association which organises the event, said: “If it wasn’t for these men we wouldn’t be here. They fought the tyranny of Hitler. There were 1,300 people who lost their lives defending the UK.

“Those Canadians came across because of the Commonwealth to protect the UK and they need to be remembered.”

Among those attending was Colonel Mike Bullis, who was laying the ashes of his father Hank Bullis, who served at the air base until his capture in 1944 after being shot down over Berlin.

Hank was born in Ontario in 1918, and came to Britain with the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 as a fighter pilot.

After completing 13 successful bombing missions, on January 20, 1944, he was shot down over Berlin.

He ended up in Stalag Luft III, in Poland, which was the camp where the film The Great Escape, was based.

Col Bullis, who serves in the same squadron, laid his father’s ashes in the memorial garden next to the Mynarski statue, rather than on the airfield as previously planned.

A memorial plaque is planned to commemorate the former fighter pilot, who died in 2016.

The service was attended by six standard bearers and 12 wreaths were laid, including by Lord Lieutenant of County Durham Sue Snowdon and 16-year-old Reece Downs, of 266 squadron Stockton branch of the ATC.

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