A PROUD lady veteran of Bomber Command in the Second World War died peacefully at her home in Pembrokeshire on Saturday at the grand age of 99.

Peggy Edwards of St Florence was one of the last of the wartime WAAFs, working in the heart of an operations room where bombing raids over Nazi Germany were planned.

Patriotic to the end, Peggy’s last outing was just two months ago on VE Day, when she enjoyed being driven around the village in a flag-bedecked car.

Less than five years ago, she made a nostalgic return to RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, where she served as a sergeant between 1942 and 1946.

At the time she recalled the constant shadow that hung over the lives of people in every air base in Britain – that the young men taking off in the Lancaster bombers may well not return.

“We would be having breakfast with a crew in the morning, and that night they may be dead or missing,” she said.

“But we couldn’t let ourselves go to pieces, we had to keep morale up.”

Peggy and her husband David also visited the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, where Peggy laid flowers at the centre’s memorial to the aircrew who lost their lives.

Around 140,000 men volunteered to fly with Bomber Command in the war. Of them, 55,573 died.

“People just don’t have a clue today of the scale of the losses of these young men, some of them no older than 22 or 23,” Peggy said.

The surprise visit to Lincolnshire was arranged by friends in St Florence who said it was their tribute to a ‘wonderful lady’.

And it was friends and neighbours who provided support for Peggy after the sudden death of her beloved David in 2016.

The couple had retired to St Florence after running Sandyhill Guesthouse in Saundersfoot for many years, with Peggy enjoying life in the bed and breakfast business so much that she refused to retire until she was 82.

Outings to local pubs to share a drink and convivial company were an important part of the couple’s life and the kindness of friends continued to make this possible for Peggy after David died.

The village’s Sun Inn was a particular favourite, and it would be a rare Wednesday or weekend if smartly-attired Peggy was not in the bar, enjoying her favourite tipple of red wine.

Speaking on behalf of Peggy’s friends, Carol Grant said: “Peggy was held in high regard as the matriarch of St Florence.

“She was a wonderful, charismatic lady who was so proud of her wartime service

“Everybody loved and respected her, and she made so many friends.

“It’s such a shame that she didn’t make it to her hundredth birthday, but we are hoping to have a celebration of her life on that day next March.”

Peggy’s funeral arrangements are currently being finalised, when her cortege will make its way around St Florence for friends and neighbours to pay their final respects.