As Haringey remembered its war heroes and veterans this November, Crouch End Liberal Democrat councillor Ron Aitken travelled to France to join local people and former French servicemen in the village of Pontchartrain, near Versailles, France, to honour his uncle, Robertson Aitken, who was killed in a bombing raid over Paris in 1944 aged 22.

Robertson Aitken’s Lancaster bomber of XV squadron RAF crashed in the grounds of the local chateau just two days after the D-Day landings began.

Councillor Aitken, the Mayor of the French town, and local citizens laid wreaths from the Royal British Legion and the RAF on the war memorial and Sergeant Aitken’s grave. Former French Resistance fighters were also honoured.

Ron Aitken comments:”It was a privilege to be able to honour my uncle, and also to remember so many French people who fought to defend our freedoms in both world wars.”