Blind veteran aged 101 to march in Cenotaph parade

Michael Woods, who served in World War Two and seen here with his wife Mary, will take part in a march to London's Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday

A 101-year-old World War Two veteran is leading a blind charity group in a parade at the Cenotaph as part of Remembrance Sunday commemorations.

Michael Woods, who lives independently in Dunstable, served as a mechanic with the Royal Air Force's 61 Squadron.

He was called up for service in 1943, aged 18, passing through RAF Cardington in Bedfordshire, then training as a mechanic, working primarily on Lancaster bombers.

"As a mechanic I wasn't meant to be in the planes flying but used to do so quite often. It was illegal of course but I remember that the crew would always say that if the mechanic is happy to fly with us then he must be pretty confident in the plane," said Mr Woods.

Speaking about his time during the war, Mr Woods said it was tinged with great loss.

"Sometimes a crew would come and they're just out of training and a brand new Lancaster and the first operation they went, but they never come back," he said.

"And yet another crew would do plus 20 or even the maximum 30 operations.

"But you feel very sad when you get to know the crew and all of a sudden they don't return."

Mr Woods lost his eyesight much later in life, due to age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma.

"I was driving until I was 94 but couldn't do so after that. That's the thing I missed the most," he said.

"I'd driven since I was a young man in the RAF and it felt like I'd lost my independence."

He started receiving "kind and helpful" support from his local Blind Veterans UK group in 2020.

Despite being blind, Mr Woods still gets about without a stick, walking every day to visit his wife of 69 years, who is in a care home.

He said he was "very proud" to be able to march down the Cenotaph, a memorial for those whose remains are elsewhere, for a second year.

"There's not a lot of us left now and I'm very fortunate to be mobile because most of them, if they're still around, are in wheelchairs or in nursing homes," said Mr Woods.

"I'm very fortunate to have been bestowed with such a gift to be around still when all my colleagues have gone."