GWR▸ Press Release:
Royal Navy helicopter swoops in as Great Western Railway and The Veterans Charity join forces for latest Poppies to Paddington operation
GWR Remembrance service will mark 70 years since the end of the Korean War
Great Western Railway will take its support for integrated travel to new heights in its latest Poppies to Paddington operation – thanks to support from a Royal Navy helicopter.
Partnering with The Veterans Charity, the Royal Navy Air Station Culdrose will deploy a Merlin helicopter to carry poppy wreaths from their base to Plymouth on Monday ahead of the GWR Remembrance service on Friday 10 November.
With planned engineering work preventing trains from running between Penzance and Plymouth, it means the fourth Poppies to Paddington operation will still serve Cornwall.
Further strengthening this year’s integrated travel approach, Go South West has also kindly provided a bus to collect wreaths from stations through the region and carry them to Plymouth.
This year GWR is remembering 70 years since the end of the Korean War as it once again carries swathes of poppy wreaths from across the network to London Paddington for the special Remembrance service.
Six ‘Poppy’ trains are expected to collect more than 200 wreaths from GWR stations ahead of the service at Paddington’s iconic war memorial on Platform 1.
GWR will especially remember the 81,000-Armed Forces personnel who took part in the Korean conflict, particularly those of the Gloucester Regiment and the Royal Fusiliers, who were involved in some of the heaviest fighting.
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