New RAF recruit proposes on parade square
One of the RAF's newest airmen proposed to his girlfriend this week during his graduation day parade.
Aircraftman Gary Creswell with fiancée Hannah Clark [Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2012]
Aircraftman Gary Creswell, aged 25, from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, has been with girlfriend Hannah for over a year. He had decided long before he started the nine-week basic training course at the Recruit Training Squadron at RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire that he would propose on graduation day.
So, in front of his family and all 50 of his peers, Aircraftman Creswell went down on one knee to pop the question. He said:
I came here with the intention of proposing at the end; it was like the final Everest to graduate and move into RAF life with a fiancee. I was really nervous, more about proposing than the parade! But it just felt right.
A stunned Hannah Clark, 24, immediately accepted. She said:
I had absolutely no idea Gary would propose, but I’m really happy.
Whilst Hannah comes to terms with her future as an RAF wife, Aircraftman Creswell is set to move to RAF Cosford in Shropshire to complete his trade training in Information and Communication Technology.
The happy couple look to marry on his completion of the course.
Basic training at RAF Halton is designed to take the new recruit and transform him into an airman fit for operations by laying in place the foundation stones he will build on throughout his career. Carefully structured, the course builds robustness, resilience, discipline, respect and integrity, amongst a raft of other military skills.