"Nobody is ever prepared for the fall-out of war," says Corinne Knight. "Bob had been to Iraq and Afghanistan a few times. He was a ground engineer, so wherever the planes went, he went. I'd stopped working because he'd be away for five weeks, back for three, then off again for six and he wanted us to be able to be together when he was home.
"We lived on a narrowboat. Bob adored it, and the marina where it was moored. We'd only had it for three months when his Hercules was brought down in Iraq in 2005. I couldn't cope. I couldn't load it onto my sons, they needed to think their Mum was OK. I ended up going to Relate, paying to talk to someone about how desperate I was feeling.
"But not only had we lost Bob, we stood to lose our narrowboat home too. Bob had always said that his estate would go to me, and I'd paid the deposit on our home myself, though it was in his name. We'd owned houses together before that too. But when he died, we couldn't find a Will anywhere, so even though we'd been together for 15 years, the bank accounts were frozen and I was on the point of losing everything because we weren't married.
"I wasn't coping, but then the RAF Benevolent Fund stepped in and coped for me. They helped me with legal costs to save our home. It's all I have, but I am now working as the marina manager.
"Now I do all I can to help the RAFBF. There is so much kindness there. It doesn't matter who you speak to, they are all welcoming and friendly. I just want more people to know about them!"
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