Lottery fund unites veterans for remembrance journeys

Veterans of World War Two came together for a special lunch at Belfast Castle today to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the war – and mark their own personal journeys of remembrance.

Over the past year more than 160 veterans, spouses and widows from Northern Ireland and the Republic have made emotional journeys to battlefields across the world in trips funded by the Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery Good Cause distributors.

During the lunch at Belfast Castle the final grants in the Heroes Return programme, totalling £3,500, were announced. Recipients include a former Royal Marine Commando, an airman who was poised to invade Malaysia when the atomic bomb dropped, and a widow who only last year discovered a hoard of letters her late husband had written home from battle.

Walter Rader, Director of the Big Lottery Fund, said: "The coming Remembrance Sunday is a particularly poignant one for Second World War veterans as it is 60 years since the peace for which they fought was achieved.

"With the support of the Lottery's Heroes Return scheme many veterans of the conflict, now in their eighties and nineties, have made the journey back to the battlefronts to salute the sacrifices of comrades in arms who did not return.

"The Big Lottery Fund has been privileged to help more than 160 veterans, together with spouses, widows, and carers, from across Ireland to make very personal journeys back overseas."

The grants were awarded through the Heroes Return strand of the Big Lottery Fund’s Veterans Reunited programme, which supports activities to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

(MB/SP)