Twenty-nine RAF Air Cadets from nine different squadrons across Bristol & Gloucestershire Wing completed a Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Expedition last weekend. Fifteen cadets from 181 (City of … Continue Reading
Operation Fortitude 2016
The expedition, code named Operation Fortitude, saw the cadets walking in four groups, codenamed Gold, Juno, Utah and Sword after the D-Day landing beaches assaulted by the allies on 6th June 1944.
The cadets carried all their equipment, slept under canvas at different sites and covered a distance of over 60 kilometres. During their time in Normandy, the groups visited a variety of D-Day sites and paid their respects to the fallen by laying wreaths at military cemeteries.
After completing the expedition, the cadets visited Pegasus Bridge, where they met Madam Arlette Gondrée, the proprietor of the world famous Café Gondrée. The Café was one of the first buildings to be liberated on the night of D-Day by British Forces. Madam Gondrée, who was a young girl when the allies launched Operation Overlord, she took the time to speak to the cadets about her experience..
This is the fourth Expedition led by Sgt E Smart and his team to the area, and to date the wing have deployed 99 cadets from twenty different squadrons from around the Wing.