The 75th anniversary of the raid on the French port of St Nazaire will be commemorated in Falmouth this Sunday, only two days after the funeral of Bill Bannister, who had been the last surviving veteran of the operation in the south west until his death at the age of 98.

Mr Bannister's daughter, Jennifer Bennetts, will be in Falmouth at the weekend to be presented with her father's Legion d'Honneur by the Honorary Consul of France, A Sibirill, ahead of the memorial service. Eric Dawkins and his wife Frances, will be attending Mr Bannister's funeral on Friday, representing both Falmouth and the St Nazaire Society.

Falmouth's St Nazaire commemorations will begin with an illustrated talk on the Greatest Raid Of All being given by Peter Lush at The Poly at 7.30pm tomorrow (Thursday). Tickets cost £6 and can be booked online at thepoly.org or by calling 319461.

Then on Saturday morning, 30 members of the HMS Ganges Association will be greeted by mayor, Grenville Chappel, in the town's council chamber before they head out to HMS Ganges Memorial at Mylor Churchyard. Here a service will be led by the Rev Jeff James.

On Sunday morning there will be wreath laying ceremonies at the graves of Leading Seaman Bill Savage, Tom Parker, LDG motor mechanic RN, and Falmouth's Johnny Johnson. The wreaths will be laid by Mr Johnson's son, Dave, and cemetery sexton Lee Mitchell, and a short service will be conducted by the mayor's chaplain, Fr Ian Froom.

Then, and hour later, the parade, which will be led by RNAS Culdrose Band, will assemble on The Moor before setting of for the St Nazaire Memorial on Prince of Wales Pier at 10.35am. The presentation to Mrs Bennetts will take place at the memorial, weather permitting, ahead of the service, which will be led by Padre Darren Middleton. Also attending will be local veterans, councillors and members of 29 Commando from the Royal Citadel in Plymouth.

Following the service and wreath laying at the memorial, the parade will reform and march through the town centre to the Watersports Centre. To facilitate the parade, the town centre will be closed to traffic from 10.30am until about 12.30pm.