Undertaker Eddy Jacobs makes out an appeal on behalf of RAF vet Sidney Marshall who was a WWII hero but has no one to attend his funeral.
Decorated RAF vet Sidney Marshall died last June 16 at the age of 90 at his home in St Annes, England. His wife, Elizabeth, had died 18 months prior to his passing. The couple had no children. The RAF vet have a few living relatives. In fact, he has eight siblings. However, all of them are too elderly to attend the service apart from one brother.
Eddy Jacobs who work for the Roland Whitehead and Daughter Funeral Directors in Blackpool feared that the funeral of this WWII hero would be an event of a few or worse no attendees at all. So, he came up with the petition.
According to Mr. Jacobs, the people have so much to be thankful for guys like RAF vet Sidney Marshall. He even laughingly said that when the time the RAF vet may have been in flight fighting Germans, he was hiding under the table with his mother.
Mr. Jacobs first met RAF vet Sidney Marshall on his wife’s death. He described the RAF vet as a modest and shy man who preferred his privacy that he could hardly believe he was a decorated WWII soldier. But from the stories the RAF vet shared to him, Mr. Jacobs became awed at the bravery RAF vet Sidney Marshall showed in face of war.
The RAF vet had been a mid-gunner during the Second World War. He received the Distinguished Flying Medal when he downed five Luftwaffe war planes which attacked him while he was on a mission over Bergan. He was also a key person in in the attack and the sinking of the 42,900-ton, Bismarck-class battleship The Tirpitz which was part of Nazi Germany’s Kriegsmarine on the 4th of November, 1944. RAF veteran Sidney Marshall was also able to complete a remarkable 28 missions while in flight of a Lancaster Bomber part of the RAF’s 9th Squadron.
The RAF vet became a warrant officer after WWII ended and settled with his wife in Lythem in St. Annes, Lancashire, England.
The cremation service of RAF vet Sidney Marshall will be on July 4 in Lytham.