High-ranking visitors lay wreaths

A high-ranking military delegation from New Zealand paid their respects during a visit to the National Memorial to the Few at Capel-le-Ferne.

The group made contact with Memorial Manager Jules Gomez and asked to visit the clifftop tribute to the Few while in the UK. With just a few days’ notice, the Trust pulled out all the stops, with Chairman Richard Hunting CBE and Trustee Ian Woodhouse joining Jules to meet the group.

Air Marshal Tony Davies, New Zealand’s Chief of Defence Force, was accompanied by his Personal Staff Officer, Wing Commander Jason Cox, Brook Barrington, Secretary of Defence, and Brigadier Lisa Ferris, defence advisor to the UK and her country's senior representative to NATO and the EU.

The Air Marshal laid two wreaths, one at the foot of the bust of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park, himself a New Zealander and one of the Few, and the other at the National Memorial to the Few. 

The visitors were presented with a copy of the Trust’s Men of the Battle of Britain as a reminder of their visit. There are 127 New Zealand airmen featured on the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall, the third largest contingent after those from the UK and Poland. Probably the most famous of the Kiwi pilots is Air Commodore Al Deere, who wrote the autobiography Nine Lives.

the picture below shows (l to r) Wing Cdr Cox, Air Marshal Davies, Brook Barrington and Brigadier Lisa Ferris.