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Today I went to the funeral of a total stranger.
Ron Banks was 99 when he passed away last month in Preston – but that only tells half the story.
Ron was a World War Two veteran who joined the Royal Navy in 1942 at the age of 17.
Read more: Remembrance Sunday in Preston – parade route, road closures and timings
He made headlines after his family appealed for people to attend his funeral after less than 10 mourners were expected to go.
The appeal was widely covered in the media including Blog Preston and I saw it on the BBC website.
When I read the story I immediately came up with 10 reasons not to go (mainly around work) but concluded that I wear my poppy with pride and given the fact it’s Remembrance Sunday weekend I thought it was fitting to attend.
Long story short, my eldest daughter and I joined around 60 other mourners at Preston Crematorium and I would like to share Ron’s story.
Ron was born in Warrington in 1925.
His Dad died when he was 10 and his Mum remarried and her Mum loved the name ‘Ron’ so much she called another one of her sons ‘Ron’. The first of ‘The Two Rons’ you could say!
Ron served as an anti-aircraft gunner on HMS Glory and was on the ship when Japanese officers signed a document of surrender on 2 September 1945.
He visited Japan immediately after the war and was shocked at the devastation that the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused.
He revisited Japan in 2009 and was stunned at how the two cities had been rebuilt.
He married his wife Vera in 1960 and his funeral service was told they weren’t ‘blessed with children’.
The couple were devoted to each other but unfortunately Vera developed dementia and spent the last 11 years of her life in a care home – which Ron visited twice a week.
Ron was fiercely independent. He drove his own car until he was 95 (only reluctantly giving it up) and lived in his own house until he was 98. It seemed fitting his final song was Aled Jones’ version of ‘You Raise Me Up’.
As I sat at the back of Ron’s funeral service surrounded by representatives of the Armed Forces – six of whom carried their standards throughout the 30-minute service – and other strangers who’d responded to the appeal, two things struck me.
The first was that there are a lot of decent people in the world.
And the second was that on Remembrance Sunday especially we should all pause for a second and think of Ron Banks – and those like him.
Their stories may get forgotten with the passing of time but their contribution and bravery never should. Thank you Ron.
If you’d like to support Navy veterans you can make a donation to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.
This is a guest post from Chris Maguire an award-winning editor and events host. He’s currently the executive editor of BusinessCloud and lives in Chorley.
