It’s eighty years this year since two USAF B17 bombers collided in mid air in bad weather over West Horndon while trying to return to their base in Suffolk. Twenty young airmen died in the crash.
The people of West Horndon mark the anniversary of this terrible event on 26th September each year and, in recent years, a wooden bench has been installed in West Horndon Park as a formal memorial of the young men who never came home.
I was honoured to be asked to lay a wreath at the bench last week to mark eighty years since the plans came down, and joined Parish Councillor Susan Lister and local Royal British Legion representative, Dennis Rensch for a short ceremony in the village. I know the families of those who died are touched villagers still remember the airmen who died, and the annual ceremony is very important to all those involved.
