FOR those who were there, it was a day which will not be forgotten - the day we remembered Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski.

And it would be wrong to let the occasion pass without recording our thanks to the many individuals and organisations who made it possible.

When The Northern Echo launched its appeal a year ago to build a bronze statue in memory of Mynarski, who died trying to save his friend Pat Brophy in the burning wreckage of a Lancaster bomber, we didn't quite know what to expect.

But donations flooded in because people were moved by the campaign to honour someone who symbolised the courage of a generation.

Our thanks go to all those contributors here and in Canada: the individuals, the local authorities, the military associations, Durham Tees Valley Airport and the Heritage Lottery Fund for supporting the appeal to such an extent that the target was passed with ease.

Our thanks are also due to those who travelled from afar to make the day so special: the widows of Second World War crewmen, the grown-up children of the heroes of our story, and the comrades who served alongside them.

And a debt of thanks is also owed to the wonderful team of volunteers, many of them elderly, who so selflessly and gallantly gave their time and energy to plan the ceremony with military-style precision.

Thank you.