Remembering the veterans of D-Day
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Sergeant Lee Wrake joined the RAF at the age of 19. On 6 June 1944 he landed on Omaha Beach, and after saving a man who was hit in the stomach, he himself was hit in the chest by shrapnel.
Before his passing in 2014, Lee turned to the RAF Benevolent Fund after he found simple tasks, like bathing, more and more difficult. We were able to install a wetroom and provide a riser recliner chair to make home life a little easier for this D-Day veteran.
Lee said: "I was young and didn’t realise how crucial D-Day was. Thinking back, it's a good job I did it when I did, because if I had to do it now it might be a different story when you're older you see the danger of it and when you're young you don't think about it.
"The RAF did a lot in the weeks before we went over but it was a combined effort.
"I always commemorate D-Day - I think it’s important to remember, a lot of people lost their lives through this campaign.
"A lot of water has gone under the bridge since I ever talked about this, I think back and I was lucky to get away with my life.
"I'm extremely grateful to the RAF Benevolent Fund for the support they have given me. I was struggling to get in and out of my armchair and they bought me a chair that allows me to get up easily. I'd also had a few falls getting out of the bath so they turned my bathroom into a wetroom – bathing is so much easier now and the help they have given me means I can still be independent in my own home."
This blog is in memory of all those men who did not return.