Remembering fallen airmen in Atwick

LOCAL resident Nick O’Mahoney was walking his dogs when he came across a memorial to lost airmen in his home village of Atwick. For those of you who have been reading the excerpts from the book ‘Alberta Canada’ serialised in the Hornsea Community News this is the memorial to the air disaster that the story by David Everard is based upon.

Having both served in the military Nick and his partner Mandy Inman decided they wanted to clean up the memorial as a mark of respect to the fallen airmen. On the eve of the anniversary on February 19 Mandy went back to clean it and paint the box, add a new vase for flowers, sort the

memorial stone and to show her respects for the fallen airmen. Nick then attended at midnight on the anniversary itself.

The disaster occurred on February 20, 1944 when just after midnight the flight set off from nearby RAF Lissett with a full cargo of ammunition on board heading for a campaign in Leipzig (Germany). Just nine minutes into its flight it crashed in this field in Atwick due to an engine failure, killing all seven crew on board. Nick and Mandy have committed to keep the memorial in good order as a mark of respect to those lost.

See the latest excerpt from Alberta Canada on Page 25 of this month’s paper.