£180k bill as 'forgotten' hero, 99, pays own care

A VETERAN forced to pay £5,000 a month while living in care homes says he feels betrayed and forgotten.

- Giles Sheldrick

Hero Ivor Foster, 99, was part of the elite Bomber Command unit that helped destroy Germany's military might at the height of the Second World War.

One of our last remaining wartime RAF legends has spent £180,000 on fees after selling his modest home.

But with money running out the widowed braveheart, who turns 100 in August, is left wondering how a lifetime of selfless service came to this.

Proud Ivor said: "The Bomber Boys were forgotten for decades and some might want to move on but we should never forget the enormous sacrifices so many made during the mighty war effort. I played my part but so many of my comrades were not as lucky as me."

Ivor was 18 when he joined 186 Squadron as a gunner in a Lancaster bomber.

Known as Blondie, he was one of 125,000 airmen who flew with the unit. He was lucky - 55,573 colleagues were killed in action.