MORE than 200 people turned up for the funeral of a Second World War veteran after an appeal for mourners on social media.

John Ellis, who lived at Glasbury-on-Wye, died at the age of 93 but there was concern as his only remaining family member, his sister, lives away and was too ill to attend the funeral.

Mr Ellis, who grew up in London, had moved to Glasbury with his wife Joyce around 30 years ago and was still supporting the local Poppy Appeal until recently. Mrs Ellis died seven years ago.

Armed forces charity SSAFA alerted its members to the RAF veteran’s funeral so they could attend while a post on Facebook also asked for members of the public to go along.

The Brecon RAF Association also attended the funeral that was held last Thursday, June 8 at Hereford Crematorium.

John Coulthard, of the Brecon RAF Association, said there had been an impressive turnout from uniformed services and military organisations at the service.

He said: “John Ellis, aged 93 was an RAF veteran and saw two years’ active service during the war, which resulted in him being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

“RAF servicemen attended, as did members of the Army, the police force, Hereford Sea Cadets and Royal British Legion standard bearers and Royal Air Force Association Standard Bearers.

“I spoke to one Standard Bearer who had travelled from Surrey, and commented that he had travelled a long way. The reply was - ‘Not as far as he did!’.”

“Mr Ellis was called up when he was just 18, and saw two years active service from 1943, which saw him set off on 35 operational flights.”

London born John, who was posted to the Royal Australian Air Force, was thought to be the last surviving member of his seven man Halifax Bomber crew who served during the Second World War.

Last year he told The Brecon & Radnor Express: “As far as I know, I’m the last one living.”

John said the crew’s wireless operator died in 2015 in North Wales.

He also recalled how he met the future Queen Elizabeth, and her sister Margaret, during the war after crash-landing in Norfolk.

John, who kept his RAF log book, which recorded all his training and operational flights while based at Leconfield in Yorkshire, said his greengrocer father was at the forefront of his mind when he crash landed in on January 29, 1944.

“We were coming back from Berlin, the navigator had made a mistake and we finished up flying over Denmark and we came back across Norfolk. We weren’t sure where we were.

“The plane was getting lower and lower as we got near the coast. It was 8.40am on a Saturday morning and I thought to myself in London my father is just opening the shop, little does he know what his son is doing.

“I said ‘Skipper, there’s an airfield there,’ and the pilot said we’ll land on the beach. I said don’t be silly, it’s bloody mined.

“We came in to what we thought was an airfield. There was a terrific crash and we were thrown about and we landed in a field. There was a hangar, which they had just finished building, and we went straight through it. I staggered out and said ‘the rest of the crew are in there somewhere’.”

John and his crew had crash-landed in the tiny Norfolk village of Matlask, near the Royal Family’s Sandringham estate.

“The next weekend the Queen Mother, King George and the two princesses (Elizabeth and Margaret) came down as they’d heard about the aircraft that had crashed in the village and we met them.”

The citation for his Distinguished Flying Cross says: “Shortly after leaving the target his aircraft was subjected to fierce anti-aircraft fire, which seriously damaged the aircraft and caused the petrol system to become partially unserviceable. Pilot officer Ellis displayed great coolness in this emergency, giving his captain every assistance, and contributing materially to the safe return of his aircraft and crew. This officer has at all times set a high standard of skill and devotion to duty.”