I recently came across two photographs - one is a picture of me just after my 21st birthday and the other is a picture of my father, Alfred Akers, at around same age:

The photos are similar in that we had both recently joined the Royal Air Force. The difference between us is that while I spent my 21st birthday in 1988 having a few drinks with friends, my father spent his birthday in 1944 taking part in his tenth mission in the skies over war-torn Europe fighting for freedom.

He was the Flight Engineer in a Lancaster bomber and he was one of the lucky ones who came home. In memory of my father and those like him who didn't make it home I am taking part in a charity trek in July to raise funds for the Royal British Legion.

The event is called 'The Freedom Trail' , or Chemin de la Liberté  and retraces the notoriously dangerous but beautiful escape route of British and Allied Service men during WWII who sought to flee from occupied France into Spain. Reaching heights of 2600m and covering a distance of 50 miles of the Pyreneen mountains over four days we will be trekking across snowfields and negotiating gigantic granite boulders whilst wearing heavy backpacks. By taking part in the Freedom Trail I am not only supporting today’s Servicemen and women, I am also honouring the lives of those who sacrificed theirs during WWII.