From where Obiter was sitting, the loudest applause at last week’s Law Society Excellence Awards went not to any of the winners, but to 84-year-old Donald Winton (pictured), highly commended as legal executive of the year. His 70-year career included four wartime years in the RAF.

This prompts a sombre thought. When Obiter began his career, law firms (not to mention the ranks of the judiciary) were full of men and women who bore the mark of war service in their speech, their bearing – and sometimes on their bodies, too. They were part of the scenery and frequently the butt of a luckier generation’s jokes. But the legal profession served with distinction during the war. Nearly 10,000 solicitors and articled clerks were in the forces, and more than 1,000 awards for gallantry were received. However, some 316 solicitors and 221 articled clerks lost their lives, and the statue of Pallas Athene, now standing in the Law Society Reading Room, was commissioned as a memorial.

For example, Flight Lieutenant John ‘Hoppy’ Hopgood, an articled clerk and the son of a solicitor, flew the second Lancaster bomber to attack in the famous Dambusters raid. It is said that his plane was hit by flak as he attacked and it caused his bouncing bomb to overshoot the Mohne Dam’s parapet and explode directly under the aircraft.He kept the bomber airborne long enough for two crew members to parachute out and then died in the crash. A voice overheard on the squadron radio lamented: ‘Poor old Hoppy.’ He was played by John Fraser in the 1954 film.

Now, they’re almost all gone. With Remembrance Day coming up, we’ve been wondering if any lawyers who were in uniform between 1939 and 1945 are still in practice. If you are one, or know of one, please get in touch.