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Bomber Command: veterans celebrate after memorial approval

Veterans of Bomber Command have celebrated after they were given the go ahead to build a memorial to 55,573 of their comrades killed in the Second World War.

Planners at Westminster City Council approved on Thursday the proposed £3.5 million memorial, which will now be built in Green Park, central London.

Readers of The Daily Telegraph helped raised more than £1.8 million towards the cost of the monument, which should be completed by 2011.

After the meeting, Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Sir Michael Beetham, President of the Bomber Command Association, said: "This is great news, it is the news we have been waiting for, for so long and at last we will be able to recognise the sacrifice made by so many men.

"We would like to thank, once again, all of those Telegraph readers who have given us so much magnificent support."

The Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb, president of the Heritage Foundation charity, which is helping to fund the memorial, added: "It is fantastic news.”

"I've put my heart and soul into being a champion of this cause," he said.

"I had a vision of this monument becoming a reality and now I want to see it unveiled. These guys are heroes - they saved the world and they deserve the best....
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)