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Honour at last, thanks to Northern Echo

A three-year campaign for justice by the Northern Echo ended at a national remembrance service attended by the Queen and Prime Minister.

Millions of Home Front heroes, who worked day and night to help the war effort 50 year ago, were remembered at the service in Coventry Cathedral.

In March 1997, the Northern Echo launched a campaign, Remember the Angels, calling for the Government to officially recognise the “Aycliffe Angels”, 17,000 munitions workers who risked their lives making bombs and bullets at Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, under constant threat from Nazi bombers.

Some of them were killed when sparks ignited the raw materials they were packing into shells, others lost limbs and eyes or had their health damaged by the chemicals they used.

Ironically, it was Nazi traitor “Lord Haw-Haw” who dubbed them the “Aycliffe Angels”, as he threatened them with the might of the Luftwaffe in his German propganda broadcasts – but in their own country, the Angels’ efforts went unmentioned and unrewarded.

On Friday, about 16 Aycliffe Angels were among a congregation of hundreds for the Home Front Service led by the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

They saw the unveiling of a permanent memorial, an engraved stone shrine, dedicated to the thousands of workers who battled for the war effort on the home front.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said: “The Northern Echo should take pride in the way it has battled for the Aycliffe Angels and the millions of others who fought on the Home Front. I am proud, too, that it is this Government which has both listened and acted to go some way to repay this debt of honour.”

Many of the Angels travelled to Coventry on a special coach, chartered by the Northern Echo and provided by Durham City Coaches.

Editor Peter Barron said in his newspaper on Friday: “It was a glaring injustice which had remained uncorrected for half a century.”

Columnist Ruth Barron was the one to highlight the injustice when she was asked by Durham University for help in finding some Angels to contribute to some research on the war. The appeal led to the newspaper being inundated with letters from Angels.

Mr Barron added: “This has been a campaign which has touched many hearts over the past three years.

“Ruth Campbell is to be congratulated for highlighting it in the first place, and the Government is to be congratulated for finally putting the Anegls on a pedestal for their heroic work.”

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