Last million for Bomber Command memorial 09.05.12
8Lord Ashcroft has donated the final one million pounds needed to complete the memorial to Bomber Command under construction in London's Green Park.
In seven weeks the memorial to honour the 55,573 airmen who lost their lives during the Second World War will be unveiled in front of a crowd of 5000 people.
Up till now there has been no official memorial to those who served in the RAF's Bomber Command.
Today Lord Ashcroft - a businessman and former deputy chair of the Conservative Party - said that the sacrifice and bravery of the airmen who died should not be overshadowed by the controversial decision to send them to bomb enemy cities. Instead the focus should be on the young men who obeyed their call of duty.
He said: "The whole concept of Bomber Command was bombing cities, and there were differences of opinion as to whether civilian casualties were part of a war machine.
"But those were the political decisions, and it's not for me to go into those decisions. These men were not politicians, they were carrying out their duty.
"And bravery is not just on the side of the Allies. I commend bravery in foreign troops, the other soldiers of a war.
"It's the concept of bravery and I think we should just focus on what these men did, being ordered to do, and did night after night in the skies over Europe."
The centrepiece of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command Memorial will be a 9ft bronze sculpture depicting a seven-man bomber crew returning from a mission.
The design of the roof is inspired by a Vickers Wellington aircraft and incorporates sections of aluminium recovered from a Handley Page Halifax III bomber shot down over Belgium on May 12 1944, killing eight crew.
Lord Ashcroft said he hoped the £7 million memorial made from Portland stone would inspire young people to read and learn about the World War II and the bravery of the people who fought in it.
Speaking alongside the plinth that will soon hold the sculpture by Philip Jackson, he said: "When you imagine when it's complete, with the statue of the seven airmen here overlooking Hyde Park, then it is a memorial worthy of those 55,000 men who lost their lives.
"I think you've got to bear in mind the number of men who lost their lives in doing their duty.
"There are many other memorials across the country to other aspects of war going back over the centuries but nothing for Bomber Command, and this rectifies that position.
"I've been interested in the concept of bravery since a schoolboy and I've built up a collection of 170 Victoria Crosses which are on display at the Imperial War Museum. And through that study of bravery I realised that there was a gap to this enormous collective group of men that hadn't been memorialised, and I think this then addressed that issue, and why it's close to my heart and why I'm proud to be part of this."
More than 5,000 veterans and veterans' family members will attend a ceremony to mark the opening of the memorial on June 28 when it will be handed over to the RAF Benevolent Fund to maintain.
The Bomber Command Association is aiming to raise a further £1.5 million for the upkeep of the memorial.
Donations can be made at www.bombercommand.com.