FAMILY and friends who gathered to say farewell to Cwmbran RAF veteran Ralph Cooke today, heard tributes to a "wonderful, caring husband, father and grandfather and brave hero of Bomber Command."

The former Warrant Officer and Flight Engineer flew 32 missions over Germany during the Second World War and two members of 614 (County of Glamorgan) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force formed an honour guard and saluted as the coffin, draped with the RAF standard, entered Gwent Crematorium.

His grandson Nick told how his talented grandfather could mend and make anything. This included a chair which had seated three generations and " toys to keep us children quiet", adding "his tools can now be passed on to us". He said: "Nothing was ever too much for my grandad", and remembered how he would happily be interrupted during a meal to fix a toy and added he would miss the sounds of his grandad's flight simulator.

Canon Harald Thomas MBE led the service, with the congregation singing the hymn ‘Lord of all hopefulness’.

Then, reading from John 14:27, he said: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Canon Thomas told of how dangerous the life of a bomber crewman was during the war with a casualty rate of 50% per cent, adding "we give thanks to God that he survived, went on to meet Dorothy, become a father to Helen, grandfather to Nick and great-grandfather to Joshua."

He told how the ex-airman had joined Monmouthshire County Council to work as an insurance officer and retired in 1984. A member of the Royal Air Force Association, he never lost his love of flying and would spend many happy hours on his computer flight simulator.

He finished by talking of God’s “divine alchemy” that had given Ralph’s goodness but had then recalled him.

At the closing of the service, the theme tune from 'Those magnificent men in their flying machines' played as a bearer from the Royal Air Force Association lowered the RAFA standard.