Wootton Bassett repatriations end
01 September 2011
A special service at dusk on Wednesday 31 August
marked the end of repatriations through Wootton Bassett as the
Union flag on the town's high street was lowered for the last
time.
From 1 September 2011, repatriations of fallen Service personnel transfer from RAF Lyneham to RAF Brize Norton, ahead of the closure of RAF Lyneham later in the year. The Union flag has been transferred from Wootton Bassett to a new memorial garden near RAF Brize Norton.
The whole nation and beyond has been moved by the quiet tributes paid to the fallen when corteges passed through Wootton Bassett and it is hoped that the ceremony and commemoration on the new route will remain spontaneous and dignified.
The Royal British Legion, along with other organisations, has been in consultation with Oxfordshire County Council, Thames Valley Police and RAF Brize Norton over the route that fallen service personnel will take from RAF Brize Norton to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
Details of the route remain the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence and the Civic Authorities. See Oxfordshire County Council for more information.
