MEMBERS of Okehampton’s 2443 air cadets squadron are taking part in a special Royal British Legion pilgrimage to the Menin Gate in Ypres over the coming week.

Squadron Leader Andy Oliver and his wife Wendy, Poppy Appeal coordinator for Okehampton, will be joined by one of the cadets, Cadet Warrant Officer Ryan Shaw.

The Okehampton contingent are among thousands of Legion representatives recreating a pilgrimage in 1928.

The tour of the battlefields of the Somme and Ypres will culminate in a ceremony at the memorial at the Menin Gate on Wednesday.

They are retracing the steps of veterans and war widows marking the tenth anniversary of the end of the First World War.

The pilgrimage will culminate in a march to the Menin Gate, dedicated to unidentified British and Commonwealth soldiers killed in fierce fighting at Ypres when they were surrounded by the Germans.

‘It is a real honour to attend,’ said Squadron Leader Oliver. ‘My grandfather Edmund John Oliver served in WWI and was, I believe, injured when he was shot in the thigh in Ypres.’

Cadet Warrant Officer Shaw will be taking part in the parade carrying the standard for the Mid Torridge Branch of the Royal British Legion.