Veteran's dying wish to be honoured with procession through the streets of Canterbury
A Normandy veteran's dying wish will come true on Friday, when his coffin is carried by a World War 2 gun carriage through the streets of Canterbury.
The public celebration and funeral of Albert Figg, one of Britain's best known Normandy veterans, will be attended by family friends and veterans from around the world.
Albert who was a sergeant in the Royal Artillery will be carried through the streets on a WW2 25pdr “Quad and Limber” which also will be towing the type of 25pdr gun he used in Normandy, Arnhem and Germany.
Albert came to prominence after the war when he noticed there was very little mention of operations Epsom and Jupiter, fought in the late June and early July of 1944 .
The 15th Scottish and his Division the 43rd Wessex mostly consisting of TA troops, attacked Hill 112 outside Caen against several SS panzer Divisions and took casualty numbers that compared to the First World War.
Hill 112 in France was marked with a simple memorial but Albert wanted to put it on the Map and attract people’s attention.
In 1990 he ran a campaign to raise money to buy a Churchill tank.
Albert in his charismatic way inspired people and got the tank had, it restored and placed facing the Hill.
Albert despite his age took school trips over every year.
Albert never rested and was on the phone or in the palace of Westminster campaigning for more.
In 2015 he commissioned an Infantryman statue and the purchase of a 25 pdr gun to add to the memorials.
Such was Alberts standing in Normandy that the rather unsafe road going past the Hill was moved and regrettably he was not there to see his last achievement unveiled by Prince Edward, the memorial Arboretum unveiled on this years anniversary of the start of Operation Jupiter.
He died earlier this month, aged 97.
The funeral will be held on Friday 28th July at 11am at the Chapel of St Edmunds School, St Thomas Hill, Canterbury,
It was Albert’s wish that his coffin be carried by a WW2 Quad, Limber and 25 pounder field gun, of the type he commanded in the war. The procession will then head to the crematorium in Barham.