Bourne Second World War veteran Ron Priest who flew missions for Bomber Command, dies aged 102

An RAF veteran and ‘true gentleman’ who survived more than 30 dangerous bombing raids during the Second World War has died aged 102.

Representatives from the Royal British Legion and Bomber Command will be among those celebrating the life of Ron Priest at a special service at St Firmin’s Church, in Thurlby, from 2.30pm on Monday (July 22).

Ron died peacefully at the Cedars Care Home, in Bourne, on Monday, June 24 and will be buried next to his late wife Mary in a private family service at St Firmin’s.

“I have had so many cards from people and most have said he was a true gentleman,” said his daughter, Angela Stroud.

“He was always interested in other people, that’s what I remember. He was kind, polite, and always thoughtful of others. People loved being in his company.

“I couldn’t have had a better dad - I have such wonderful thoughts of him.”

Ron was born in London and grew up in Lewisham, sparking a lifelong support for Arsenal FC.

After being bombed out of the family home during the Blitz, he volunteered for the RAF in October 1941, and the following year was sent for training in Canada and the United States.

He became an air gunner and returned to England early in 1943 to train in a Stirling bomber before earning his commission.

Still in his late teens, Ron was posted to 149 squadron at RAF Lakenheath, in Suffolk, and joined a seven-man crew in the notoriously dangerous rear gunner position

They risked life and limb on twice-weekly ‘operations’, mostly to bomb German industrial targets in the Ruhr, with Ron exceeding the regular tour of duty of 30 missions.

After surviving a particularly perilous trip to bomb a Fiat factory in Italy, he received flak wounds to the eye on his 33rd mission, when two German fighters attacked his Stirling.

Ron’s flying days were over, and he spent the rest of the war training new rear gunners.

The war also brought another landmark moment in his life, when he met his future wife, Mary, while stationed in Northamptonshire.

The couple were wed early in 1946 shortly before he was posted to an air base in Libya as a wages clerk.

Taking the skills he learned there into civilian life, Ron started a career with the London Permanent Building Society, which later became Nationwide.

Ron was asked to manage the company’s new branch in Peterborough in 1954 and lived in the city - where he and Mary brought up Angela - until 1976.

A seven-year stint at the company’s head office, in Luton, followed before retirement and a move to Bourne.

A lifelong cricket follower, Ron became treasurer of Bourne Cricket Club for a period and was also a founder member of the Hereward Probus Club, in Bourne.

Proud of his time with the Armed Forces, Ron also remained a member of the Bourne branch of the British Legion for the rest of his life.