Veteran surprised with Bomber Command clasp on his 89th birthday
At just 19-years-old, Flight Lieutenant Harry Hooper, became one of the youngest airmen to fly in the Bomber Command as part of daring raids in Germany during WW2.
Today, on his 89th birthday - more than six decades after the war ended - he was surprised with the presentation of his long-awaited Bomber Command clasp at its war memorial in London's Hyde Park.
It was Flt Lt Hooper's first visit to the RAF Bomber Command War Memorial, which was created to remember the thousands of crew who lost their lives.
He had missed out on last year's opening of the memorial by the Queen due to illness.
Speaking to ITV News, the veteran reflected on toll his colleagues paid during the war.
"You had 125,000 air crew who went into Bomber Command from the beginning of the war, and 56,000 were killed. That's half of them, not captured or prisoners or wounded, actually killed".
He also spoke about flying the aircraft at such a young age, saying: "I didn't think much of it really, it didn't bother me, I was driving a car at 12/13, unofficially but I was!"