Memorial bench in honour of war veteran unveiled in Wigan park

Money was raised for the special piece of furniture by his great-nephew Matthew, known as the Wigan Runner, who ran 101km in a month – one kilometre for each year of his uncle’s life – and it has been installed in Alexandra Park opposite Harry’s house in Newtown where he lived for 70 years.

It was unveiled with family and friends in attendance to pay respects.

Carina Jones performed The Last Post as part of the memorial in honour of the man who had been Britain’s last surviving World War Two submariner.

A plaque on the bench reads “An extraordinary, ordinary man.”

In a social media post Matthew said: “Thank you to all those who came to support and pay their respects to an ‘Extraordinary, Ordinary man’.

“Thank you to Charlie Neve Ex Submariner, the Navy and to representatives of We Remember Submariners, The Armed Forces Hub and Wigan Council.

“A special thank you to Carina Jones for her moving rendition of The Last Post.”

Now friends and family of the war veteran can pay their respects and remember Harry at his very own park bench whose purchase and installation were made possible due to donations during Matthew’s fund-raiser.

He said: “We fund-raised last year just after he died, £2,000 to pay for the park bench.

"A huge thank you to everyone in Wigan who donated.

"He really was just a wonderful man that everyone adored, this was because of his character, honesty, integrity and being the definition of the word ‘gentleman.’"