A YOUNGSTER will wear his great-grandad’s war medals with pride at a ceremony in France to mark the 70th anniversary of the night he was shot down over Normandy.

The village of La Vespiere has spent the summer planning to mark the night the Lancaster Bomber crashed on to a remote farm in the Second World War.

The seven-man crew, including Flight` Sgt Arthur Hulmes – the youngster’s great-grandad – and three people in the farmhouse were killed.

Joshua and his mum, Paula Hunt, and her partner Lee Almond, of Lynwood Avenue, Darwen, will stay with the Mayor of La Vespiere, and they will be guests of honour at the memorial unveiling on August 16.

They will also visit the crash site and the cemetery near Lisieux where the crew are buried in Commonwealth War Graves.

Arthur, 25, had just become a father and spent a few precious days with his wife, Lilian, at their home in Blackpool.

He had been given special permission to see his new-born baby daughter, Linda, before he had to dash back to join his squadron near Newark.

He never saw them again.

Just a couple of weeks later, as the Lancaster headed towards the safety of the English coast after a night raid on the industrial heart of Milan, it was shot down by a German plane.

The community of La Vespiere has never forgotten the tragedy and the heroism of the night, when villagers rescued a mother and her young daughter from the blazing farm.

Ten years after the war his widow, Lilian, met and married Richard Davies, of Blackburn, and they lived in Clifton Street. She died in 1970.

Baby Linda grew up to marry Alan Harwood, of Darwen, and Paula is their daughter.

Paula, patient safety and quality co-ordinator for the medicine division at Royal Blackburn Hospital, said: “I have a lot of photos of my grandfather and there are lots of papers from his time in the RAF and, of course, his medals.

“I am sure the ceremony will be very moving for everyone.”

Joshua, a pupil at Darwen Vale High School, said: “I am really looking forward to it.”