MORE than 100 people gathered in front of a newly-placed war memorial on Plasterdown for a service of dedication and remembrance of those who died in the Liberator crash of 1942.

Almost half of the attendees were relatives of the seven men who had been the crew of the RAF Liberator bomber that crashed nearby. There were also relatives of Harry and Irene Palmer who lived at the farm where the crash happened and also of Henry Walsh, an 11-year-old evacuee from Plymouth who was staying with them at the time.

The service was conducted by the Rev Tony Vigars and Fr Louis Rieunier. The memorial post of Dartmoor granite was unveiled by Irene Pass, 94, the widow of Sergeant Dennis Pass who was the sole survivor of the crash. She was assisted by her grandson Tim Rogers and accompanied by three generations of her family that had travelled to Devon from Cleethorpes. Also present were relatives of pilot officer Allan Cruickshanks, pilot officer Bill Martin and Sergeant Harry Dawe who, along with flying officer Gavin Sellar, flying officer Vitor Crowther and Sergeant William Fraser, had all died in the crash that happened as their aircraft was returning from a long patrol over the Bay of Biscay on the evening of October 30, 1942.

Following the dedication, wreaths were laid by wing commander Lisa D’Oliveira of the Royal New Zealand Air Force on behalf of relatives of Victor Crowther, wing commander Derek Straw, formerly of 224 Squadron RAF and Chris Smerdon of the Royal British Legion, Tavistock Branch. These were followed by wreaths and poppies from the relatives.

The standard of the British Legion, borne by Malcolm Christie, was dipped as the Last Post was played by Tony Holder. The epitaph ‘This Bit of England’ by Edward Vine Hall was delivered by Kay Hardy, a niece of Allan Cruickshanks.

After the service some of the relatives went to Buckland Monachorum Cemetery to place wreaths on the graves of the three crewmen buried there — flying officer Victor Crowther RNZAF, pilot officer Bill Martin RAFVR and Sergeant William Fraser RAFVR.

Later relatives and close friends went for a re-union at Tavistock Golf Club where a display panel, loaned by Tavistock Museum, gave details about the loss of the Liberator. Roderick Martin, secretary of the museum, had also provided commemorative copies of the display for relatives of the airmen.

Robert Jones, organiser of the memorial, expressed thanks to director of conservation and communities of the Dartmoor National Park Authority Alison Kohler, for permission to place the memorial on their land, the Patterson family of Grenofen for donating the granite post and Jon Stones, assistant head ranger of Dartmoor National Park, and his team for arranging and placing the memorial.