Air force veterans are planning a memorial service to honour the men who died carrying out the most audacious bombing raid of them all.
This year marks 70 years since the Dambusters raid, which famously saw Barnes Wallis's "bouncing bomb" breach two dams in Nazi Germany's industrial heartland.
Fifty-three airmen from 617 Squadron lost their lives in Operation Chastise, on the night of May 16, 1943.
Members of the Leicester branch of the Royal Air Forces Association are now planning a wreath-laying service to commemorate their sacrifice.
It is being organised by ex-RAF policeman and branch secretary Roy Rudham, who wants the occasion to also remember a Leicestershire airman whose administrative skills made the raid possible.
"Our intention is to hold a service in Victoria Park, by the war memorial, on May 15, the day before the raid," said Roy, 70, of Clarendon Park.
"As far as I am aware, it will be the first memorial of its kind in Leicester for the airmen of 617 Squadron who took part.
"We feel younger generations need to be aware of the sacrifice of these airmen, and thousands of others, who gave their lives to help preserve the freedoms we all enjoy today. They had to fly at night, 60ft off the ground and skimming the trees, all the way to Germany – and with the biggest bombs known at the time beneath them.
"They faced a huge amount of flak from the defenders. I really think their actions were as heroic as portrayed in the famous Dam Busters film."
Roy said RAFA veterans would also be remembering the late Harry Humphries, who served as Wing Commander Guy Gibson's adjutant.
"Harry, you could say, was the organisational brain, in logistical terms, behind the operation, certainly in the final hours of preparation," said Roy "When appointed by Gibson, he had just 48 hours to make all the essential arrangements for the aircrew.
"His role included everything from organising flying rations to getting them to the right aircraft in time.
"It also included sending telegrams to the families of the men who didn't return."
Harry, who died in 2008, aged 92, worked as a sales manager at Parker Shoes, Leicester, both before and after the war.
In his own account of the raid – Living With Heroes – published in 2001, he described how elation back at 617 Squadron's base at RAF Scampton, Lincs, soon turned to dismay as the scale of the losses became clear.
He wrote: "I returned to the mess in a daze.
"I had to send 56 telegrams to next of kin."
When Parker Shoes was taken over by the British Shoe Corporation, Harry retired to the village of Weybourne, in Norfolk, where he spent the last 30 years of his life.
Roy wants to trace Harry's surviving family and relatives so he can invite them to join veterans at the Victoria Park memorial service.
"I'm not sure if Harry's widow, Ethel, is still with us," he said. "If she is, I imagine she would be quite elderly.
"However, his son, Peter, and daughters, Pat and Pauline, would be similar ages to us.
"We would love for them to be our guests, or indeed some of Harry's grandchildren or great grandchildren if we can get a message to them."
The veterans are hopeful that serving airman with 617 Squadron, now based atRAF Lossiemouth, Scotland, will also be able to join them at the service.
