AN American fighter pilot has made his annual trip to Colchester to commemorate the Second World War for the last time.

The 353rd Fighter Group USAAF was stationed at Raydon, on the Essex-Suffolk border, for a year from April 1944.

Before the Americans left at the end of the war, they presented a rose bowl to Colchester Town Hall to thank the town for its hospitality.

One of the surviving pilots, John Madson, visited Colchester this year, and described the journey as “the last hurrah”.

Mr Madson led family and friends to Colchester Town Hall and saw the rose bowl on display.

Among the visitorswas Glenn Duncan, son of Group Commander Colonel Glenn E. Duncan, who originally presented the rose bowl to Colchester.

Only a few of the 353rd Fighter Group’s pilots are still alive and all but one were unable to make the trip, as they are in their nineties.

Ian McMeekan, a tour guide who met Mr Madson, said: “It was a very happy occasion.

“British people are still grateful to the Americans and the fact the relationship worked back then means they can still do these things many years later.

“It was quite moving, they were Americans at their best.”

A photograph was staged to mimic the one taken in 1945. The rose bowl seen in the picture has a Colchester badge and an inscription.

After a tour of the town hall and afternoon tea at Tymperleys restaurant, the group were led on a tour of the town.

The party then visited Raydon to rededicate the airfield memorial and unveil a new information board, before visiting the American military cemetery at Madingley in Cambridgeshire.