TEN soldiers from New Zealand who were tragically killed in a freak accident at Bere Ferrers in 1917 were remembered last week, 90 years after their death. Members of the Royal British Legion, brownies and beavers and the parish council laid a wreath at Bere Alston war memorial to mark the occasion. The group of soldiers were passing through Devon in September 1917, on their way to join British forces bogged down in the trenches on the Western Front. They were travelling from Plymouth to Salisbury when the train stopped at Bere Ferrers station and the soldiers disembarked. But some jumped from the train on the wrong side, landing on the track and unaware that a train was approaching down the line. Eight of the men were killed instantly ? two more died at Tavistock Hospital. They were all buried at Efford Cemetery in Plymouth. The tragedy touched the community on the Bere Peninsula and a plaque was erected in the parish church. Their names were inscribed on the war memorial in 2001. Picture by James Bird
