Residents of Tuddenham, near Mildenhall, have honoured the wartime RAD 90 Squadron bomber crews stationed there by rededicating a village memorial

A village’s determination to honour members of wartime bomber crews based there has seen its memorial to the RAF’s 90 Squadron refurbished and re-dedicated.

The four-year campaign to renovate the plinth on Tuddenham’s village green was initiated by former parish councillor Kim Burt when she noticed it was in urgent need of repair.

After being frustrated in her efforts to get a war memorial grant, she took to social media to try to raise the £852 needed to have the memorial restored.

“Within 24 hours I had been pledged half the money and after another 24 hours all of it was there, thanks to donations from lots of local people, and then it was just a matter of when the specialists I had found could do the work,” said Kim.

The granite memorial with a sundial on top made from the propeller of one of the Stirling bombers based in the village bears the names of all the stations which were home to 90 Squadron, including Tuddenham. Last month a special service led by Tuddenham vicar the Rev David Butcher was held, to which relatives of members of 90 Squadron were invited.

They were joined by civic and military representatives including Suffolk deputy Lord Lieutenant Mark Brennan, Cllr Pat Hanlon, chairman of West Suffolk Council, county councillor Colin Noble, Cllr John Hallard, chairman of Tuddenham Parish Council and ward councillor David Taylor, who gave money from his locality budget towards the cost of restoration.

Members of the Bury St Edmunds 301 Squadron ATC provided a guard of honour and wreaths were laid on behalf of RAF Honington, the squadron’s final base before it was disbanded in 1965, and USAF Mildenhall, which eventually took over the Tuddenham base.

During the war years, 90 Squadron members based at Tuddenham had been part of countless missions, including flying ammunition and supplies to resistance fighters in France, dropping dummy parachutists to fool the Nazis and were involved in the D-Day offensive.

“The re-dedication service was part of a very special day, not just for Tuddenham but especially for all the descendants of the members of 90 Squadron, many of whom gave their lives for their country during the war.

It was a very proud day for them and for all of us,” said Kim.