Mr Egan is among a contingent of bomber command veterans attending celebrations in the United Kingdom to mark the role they played in World War II thousands of kilometres from home.

One of those events was held at London’s Green Park this week and saw Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II unveil a major public memorial commemorating the loss of more than 55,000 airmen, including 4000-plus Australians, during World War II.

John Joseph Egan is one of 100 Australian veterans in London to remember and honour their fallen mates in a number of special events, which included an Australian memorial ceremony held in Runnymede on Tuesday.

Some 10,000 Australian airmen served with the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command during the second World War, during which almost 3500 were killed in action and some 650 died in training accidents in the United Kingdom.

Mr Egan enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in May 1942 at the age of 19. He completed his training in Australia and was posted to the United Kingdom, where he served as an air gunner with No 460 Squadron in Lincolnshire before being transferred to the Royal Air Force to complete his operational tour.

He was commissioned in 1944 and reposted at No460 Squadron for his second operational tour, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in November 1944. He had the honour of receiving his decoration from His Majesty King George VI at Buckingham Palace in December 1944.

Mr Egan was discharged in 1945 and returned to the UK in 1949, rejoining the RAF to undergo training as a pilot and then serving 15 years in a number of flying units in the UK and overseas. He returned to Australia in 1965 and worked as a charter pilot in Western Australia for 10 years before taking up farming at Wauchope. He retired to Gunnedah in 1992.