WWII veteran passes at 99

Neil Flanigan MBE, the former World War II RAF ground crew member who was stationed at Bomber Command in Lincolnshire during the war, and a former president of the West Indian Association of Service Personnel, died on Thursday, March 21, at 99 years old.

Several events were being planned to mark his 100th birthday, including one that was organised by the Nubian Jak Community Trust.

Born in Jamaica in May 1924, Neil Flanigan came to England as a teenager in the 1940s to join the Royal Air Force in response to an advertisement for volunteers in the Jamaica Gleaner. He had been among the brightest pupils in Jamaica, having received a scholarship to study at Waltham College.

He received his initial training at Up Park Camp, which had been the headquarters of the British Army in Jamaica from the late 18th century until Independence in 1962. Flanigan travelled to England in 1943 for service and completed eight weeks of training in Cardington, the Bedfordshire home of British airships. He was part of the ground crew at Bomber Command and specialised in instrument repair, providing service for the squadron that sent men to the ill-fated Arnhem mission. During RAF service, he lived in bunkhouses while training to build and maintain the controls of fighter aircraft.

He returned to Jamaica in 1947, and obtained a job with British West Indian Airways. The position was short-lived and another was to follow in The Bahamas lasting two years. He felt he had had enough of the West Indies, and by 1954 he was back in London. Flanigan worked for British Overseas Airways Corporation (now British Airways) as an engineer, also employing his salesman skills in the insurance business.

Over the decades, he involved himself in community activities, such as volunteering at the Citizens Advice Bureau and a local hospital in Guilford, Surrey. Like ex-RAF friend Allan Wilmot, he was a pioneering member of the West Indian Ex-Services Association (now the West Indian Association of Service Personnel). They served as president and in other roles in the association during the 1990s. In 2001, and in acknowledgement of Flanigan’s achievements, Queen Elizabeth II awarded him an MBE.

He was a staunch supporter of Urban Synergy, an education project, in Lewisham, London, sharing with them for more than 10 years, visiting local primary and secondary schools to share decades of his experiences with them.

HONOURED GUEST

Last November, he was the honoured guest at the annual Remembrance Sunday event beside the War Memorial in Windrush Square, Brixton, south Lambeth.

Commenting on his passing, Paul Chambers, chairman of the British West India Regiments Heritage Trust, said: “Neil Flanigan MBE was an exemplar of what duty, service and sacrifice stands for. Little did he know he was making history when he became one of the first men to step forward and answer the call in Jamaica to serve King and country.

“Neil gave unwavering service, support, and dedication to British and Jamaican communities over the years, working assiduously into his 99th year. He earned his MBE for his sterling community and voluntary support work. Always dignified and with a pioneering spirit of endurance and endeavour, he would make his weekly visits from Camberley, Surrey, to hold community welfare clinics or attend events all over the country to speak about race relations or his wartime experience to people of all ages and from all walks of life.

“The measure of this man remains unparalleled among his contemporaries. His fruitful life has created a huge legacy; he will be missed immensely by us all at British West India Regiments Heritage Trust with whom he was very close, and no doubt all whose life he has touched.”