A DECORATED war hero who faced being refused a ticket to the unveiling of the Bomber Command memorial DID make the ceremony, thanks to The Press.

Former rear gunner Freddie Johnson, 91, from Tadcaster, was at Green Park in London today to see the £6.5 million memorial being unveiled by the Queen.

Mr Johnson won six medals in the Second World War, including the Distinguished Flying Cross for gallantry, during five years’ service on Wellington and Halifax bombers and was shot down twice, once behind enemy lines.

He also helped raise money for the memorial and said he was very pleased to hear it was being built, but he looked set to be denied a place, until The Press told his story earlier this month.

His family had been told all the tickets had been taken, but after we broke the story, his local MP Nigel Adams intervened. Today, he travelled to the event, after The Sun newspaper, which followed up the original story, paid for his travel and accommodation.

Mr Johnson’s wife Jean had told The Press earlier this week: “We’re really looking forward to it. It’s really taken off.”

Veterans from Britain and around the world gathered to see the Queen dedicate and unveil a memorial to the 55,573 airmen who died in the Second World War.

More than 5,000 surviving airmen joined the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and other members of the Royal Family for the unveiling of the memorial, which features a 9ft bronze sculpture depicting a seven-man bomber crew returning from a mission.

Dudley Hannaford, 88, came from Sydney in Australia for the service, and told how he served as a wireless operator on Lancaster bombers flying out of RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.

He said: “I had 18 operations over Germany and I was shot down on the 18th, he said.

“I joined up with the pilot and we tried to evade capture, which we did for 16 days, but we ran out of food and had to give ourselves up.

“It was quite near the end of the war anyway, and I was in a prisoner of war camp near Munich when I was released and repatriated.”

He said today’s occasion was “absolutely wonderful”.

Other veterans came from Canada and New Zealand as well as around Britain.