UNKNOWN WARRIOR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 3, 15 October 1940, Page 6

UNKNOWN WARRIOR.

DEAD AIRMEN’S LETTER

PORTRAIT UNVEILED

LONDON, September 26,

In her airman son’s last letter fo her before he died a British, mother read:

One thing can never be altered

“I shall have lived and died an Englishman. Nothing else matters one jot nor can anything ever change it.”

When the son was killed, the portrait painter, Mr Frank Salisbury, R. 0.1., painted his portaait from a snapshot as his gift to the mother. That portrait was unveiled yesterday by Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Air Minister, at a London luncheon of the National Defence Public Interest Committee, in the presence of Air Force chiefs and men of the Bomber, Fighter, and Coastal Commands. The dead airman’s mother sat among the other guests at the luncheon, but both she and her son remain unknown. Lord Nathan, who presided, said she wished to be known only as “the mother of the young unknown warrior.’ 5

Sir Archibald, unveiling the portrait, said: “This young man who has given his life for his country will live for ever in the vibrant prose in which he expresses the spirit of the Service to which he belonged. “Our hearts go out to his family. But that young airman in his letter lit a torch which his comrades will keep burning and will hand on, and which, will light our path through grim ordeals to victory and peace.’ 5