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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Veterans' Churchill hearse honour | Veterans' Churchill hearse honour |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The hearse used to carry wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill is being offered to the families of veterans of WWII free of charge for funeral services. | The hearse used to carry wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill is being offered to the families of veterans of WWII free of charge for funeral services. |
| The hearse carried the former Prime Minister's coffin to his final resting place in Bladon, Oxon in 1965. | The hearse carried the former Prime Minister's coffin to his final resting place in Bladon, Oxon in 1965. |
| Bristol-based MW Funeral Directors is beginning the new service on Wednesday as a mark of appreciation for the veterans' wartime contribution. | Bristol-based MW Funeral Directors is beginning the new service on Wednesday as a mark of appreciation for the veterans' wartime contribution. |
| The gesture marks 63 years since the D-day landings. | The gesture marks 63 years since the D-day landings. |
| "Real honour" | |
| Bladon parish church lies just outside the Blenheim estate, where Sir Winston Churchill was born. | Bladon parish church lies just outside the Blenheim estate, where Sir Winston Churchill was born. |
| The 1965 Princess hearse was bought by the firm at auction in Christie's in 2003 and has been fully restored. | |
| Since then it has been used for funerals of people who were in the armed services. | |
| "We've had it in service for three years now and have come to realise how much it means to families of veterans, who consider it a real honour and who understand how much Churchill meant to that generation," said a Wayne Armstrong of MW Funeral Directors. | |
| "We want to make it available to everyone who served in the war and to whom we owe so much." |