There were various events that took place as part of the 50th anniversary of D-Day celebrations (6th June 1994) in which former 197 Squadron members were involved. A party of seven ex-197 Squadron pilots travelled to Normandy for the celebrations: Ken Bowman, Paddy Byrne, David Ince, Derek Lovell, Dennis Matthews, Johnny Rook and Alex Shannon.
Of special significance for these veterans were the following:
The service and ceremony at the Typhoon Memorial at Noyers Bocage, where plaques listing the 151 Typhoon pilots lost in the Battle of Normandy were unveiled. (Later in 1999 an additional plaque was installed. This was dedicated to all the Typhoon wing’s support personnel who were killed in Normandy). A monument marking the beginning of the runway at the advanced airstrip B3 in Normandy was also erected by the Commune of St. Croix-sur-Mer. B3 was used by 146 Wing from July to the end of the Battle of Normandy in late August 1944. A ceremony took place there in the presence of 197 Squadron veterans, the mayor of the commune and local citizens. After the ceremony, 197 veterans were entertained by the Commune in the village with a Vin d’Honneur, much to their delight. Derek Lovell gave a speech in French thanking the Mayor and Commune for the B3 monument and their hospitality and recalled the squadron’s experiences at B3. There was also a service of remembrance at the Bayeux War Cemetery and a presentation of 50th-anniversary commemoration medals in the Abbaye des Dames in Caen.
