A memorial bell to mark Oxfordshire’s Repatriation ceremonies is now in place, ready to be unveiled later this month.
The Repatriation Memorial Bell will stand opposite Carterton’s Memorial Garden in Norton Way and toll every time a fallen serviceman or woman is brought home to RAF Brize Norton.
It will be unveiled on Saturday, June 30, at 10am.
The ceremony will be conducted by Lee Mackie, the mother of Jason Mackie, a Royal Marine from Bampton who was killed in Afghanistan in 2009, and by Ellie Simmons, the student from Carterton Community College who won a contest and had her poppy design placed on the bell.
The names of the military personnel who have been repatriated to RAF Brize Norton since September 2011 will be read out and the bell will be blessed by The Bishop of Dorchester, The Rt Revd Colin Fletcher.
People raised £26,000 to pay for the bell, including £9,000 from the charitable trust run by Gannett, the Oxford Mail’s parent company.
l A soldier from 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards was killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday.
The soldier has not yet been identified and a date for his repatriation has not been set.
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