Michael Payne, left, son of Denis Payne and member of the board of commissioners; Mr. Payne, Consul General Martin Rickerd and Mayor Ed Rieker look over the Winston Churchill Air Medal Award. All Photos by Phil Bolton.

The strength of the “special relationship” between the Brits and the Yanks was on display at the monthly city council meeting of Avondale Estates, a small municipality to the east of Atlanta, June 23.

Martin Rickerd, the British consul general based in Atlanta, attended the meeting to honor Denis Payne, a former member of the British diplomatic service and Royal Air Force pilot.

Mr. Payne, who began his flying career as a tail gunner and flight engineer attached to the Fairy Battles Squadron in 1939, is the only survivor among three former RAF pilots to have lived in Avondale. 

The Tudor-style buildings in the city center and in the community were inspired by a reverence for things British when it was developed in the 1920s as one of the early planned communities in the U.S.

During a tour of the city before the ceremony, Mr. Rickerd said that he felt he was “home away from home.”

At City Hall, Mr. Rickerd reviewed Mr. Payne’s military career, referring to the period in 1940-41 when he flew night missions over enemy territory as “the sharp end of England’s history.”

Denis Payne and his wife, Mary, surrounded by their children and grandchildren at the Avondale Estates City Hall.

In 1942, Mr. Payne was assigned to the United States Air Force as a flying instructor at Cochran Field in Macon. Following the war he joined the British diplomatic service and served as vice consul in Norfolk, Va., and Curacao, Dutch West Indies. 

He moved to Avondale in 1954 when he was posted at the British Consulate General in Atlanta. 

Mr. Payne’s wife, Mary; three of his four sons, Terry, David and Michael and three grandchildren, Katie, Michael and Andrew, attended the ceremony. 

Also attending were Ray Gilbert, the executive director of the British American Business Group, Gillian Cooper, the press and public affairs officer at the consulate, and David Hurd of Fenner Dunlop/Georgia Duck, a manufacturer of conveyor belts in Avondale. 

Georgia Rep. Stefanie Stuckey Benfield and Mayor Ed Rieker

Avondale Mayor Ed Rieker expressed his appreciation for the consul general’s attendance, declared him an “honorary citizen” of the city and gave him a plaque recognizing his new status. 

Georgia Rep. Stefanie Stuckey Benfield presented both Mr. Rickerd and Mr. Payne with proclamations from Gov. Sonny Perdue. 

Mr. Rickerd then bestowed upon Mr. Payne the Winston Churchill Air Medal, an unofficial designation that was created by local residents Allan Kirwan and Don Connelly. 

Queen Elizabeth II already had honored Mr. Payne in 1973 as a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

Mr. Kirwan, who helped organize the event, told GlobalAtlanta that he and Mr. Connelly were inspired to invite Mr. Rickerd to participate after seeing a public television documentary on World War II.

Gillian Cooper, press and public affairs officer and Avondale resident Kenny Newman

“So many of the veterans of that war are no longer with us,” Mr. Connelly said. “We felt it only appropriate to recognize Denis in this way.”

Prior to the City Hall ceremony, Mr. Rickerd attended a reception at the Avondale Community Club where he met with local residents including Kenny Newman, who brought memorabilia that her family had collected during the war.

At the time, while living in Stony Brook, N.Y., her mother had been a member of the Union Jack Club of the United States and put up British sailors who came to the city for rest and recreation. 

Ms. Newman had a collection of photographs from the period, which she showed Ms. Cooper and other attendees.

 Mr. Rickerd also was given the newly published book, “The British Consul: Heir to a Great Tradition.”