Decorated Market Drayton army veteran set to play part in unique D-Day commemoration this year

Stephen Kemp is part of a team of skilled technicians at Telford aviation firm Aviramp who are building a step-free ramp to help the party of US veterans get off their chartered flight safely when they pay an emotional return to Normandy on June 1.

The veterans, the youngest of whom is 96 years old, are returning to the beaches they helped liberate from the Nazis to mark the 81^st anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Hortonwood-based Aviramp has teamed up with Delta Air Lines, Michelin and the US charity Best Defense Foundation as part of the unique commemoration and will donate the state-of-the-art boarding ramp to Deauville Airport in northern France.

Stephen, who joined Aviramp after 23 years’ service with the Royal Irish Regiment, said it was a huge honour to be involved in building the ramp.

"The fact that we are helping the commemorations at Deauville and that I am involved in building the ramp the veterans will use, matters a lot to me,” he said.

"I still do what I can to help remember all veterans. I am involved in the Market Drayton branch of the Royal British Legion and played the bugle at the town’s VE Day celebrations earlier this month.

"I regularly play the Last Post and Reveille at the Remembrance Day and do what I can to support the RBL throughout the year.

"To be now working on something which will play such an important part in helping these remarkable veterans return to the scene of the D-Day landings, and commemorate all those who fought alongside them, is a real honour and a true bonus."

Stephen, 44, was medically discharged from the Royal Irish Regiment suffering with PTSD after a career which saw him embark on three tours of Northern Ireland before seeing action for the first time during the Iraq conflict in 2003.

"It was my first real experience of conflict and I remember having to grow up really, really quickly. We went over the border and all you could see were the burning oil fields and rigs which the Iraqis had set fire to.

"I remember being besides the Euphrates River ready to push into Basra. I was on sentry duty that night and the flashes and explosions of the bombs being dropped into the city and the tracer fire going in among the air strikes filled the sky."

A second operation in Iraq followed just over two years later as well as three tours of Afghanistan where Stephen was part of airborne assault operations.

Stephen has a collection of seven medals to remind him of his time in the Army, and stayed in Market Drayton where his battalion had been based when he called time on his military career

Aviramp chief executive and founder Graham Corfield said he was delighted to support the initiative - and particularly proud that Stephen is part of the team.

"It is hard to imagine the things the D-Day veterans must have gone through 81 years ago, but being able to talk to Stephen about some of his experiences really helps to bring it home.

"We owe so much to all those who took part in the D-Day landings and those who have fought to defend freedom in the years since. To be able to offer the ramp to ensure we can continue to commemorate D-Day for as long as possible is the least we can do."