Article - Tragic Nottingham D-Day sailor to be honoured (Nottingham)

THE memory of a Nottingham sailor who perished in a tragic D-Day accident is to be honoured.

Twenty-year-old Sub Lieutenant Frank Freeman was on board landing craft LCT 427 when it was hit by HMS Rodney, a 34,000-ton battle cruiser, in the early morning of June 7, 1944.

The collision, which saw the tiny craft sink to the bottom of the Solent, came just hours after it had delivered a fighting cargo of tanks to Gold beach in Normandy and when it was only four miles from the safety of Portsmouth harbour.

All 13 on board, including Sub Lieutenant Freeman, died.

More than 65 years later, the wreck of the craft has been found on the sea bed just off the south coast and now a search has been launched to find the families of those brave, young war heroes.

The Southsea branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC), which identified the wreck of the landing craft, are hoping to organise a memorial service at sea to remember Frank, son of Emmanuel and Jean Freeman, and his comrades who lost their lives that night.

They are keen to trace relatives or former comrades of the men who died so they can invite them to the service.

Alison Mayor, project leader, said: "It is such a tragic and sad story."

If you are related Frank Freeman, or any of the other lost seamen, contact Andy Smart on 0115 948 2000 or email andy.smart@nnmg.co.uk.

 

From: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Tragic-Nottingham-D-Day-sailor-honoured/story-13481955-detail/story.html

Event - Commemorating the lives of the Canadian Aircrew (Creswell Crags)

On Saturday 21st May the Canadian High Commissioner is paying a special visit to Creswell Crags for a ceremony to mark the unveiling of the memorial stone which marks the tragic loss of life of five Canadian aircrew whose Wellington Bomber crash landed in 1944 close to the site. The event has been made possible through the kind gift by Joseph Plant who, in his will, wished to create a lasting memory of the airmen by erecting a memorial stone in memory of his friend Herbert Keeton.



Gerald Plant from Creswell and a key figure in the Memorial Committee said ‘We have been working hard to fulfil the wishes of my late brother. All of the Canadian relatives of the airmen have been contacted and at least twenty relatives are due to travel to Britain for the event. Earlier in the week we have also arranged for the relatives to visit the graves of the airmen at Harrogate Cemetery and Gamston airfield from where the crew flew.’


Colonel Paul Keddy, Air Force Advisor to the United Kingdom at the High Commission of Canada, said ‘The High Commission is extremely grateful for the recognition this event will provide for our brave Canadian airman. We are especially pleased about the Committee’s hard work to ensure that the relatives of the airman and Canadian veterans in Britain, who will also be attending the event, are able to remember their countrymen in this way.’


The ceremony will take place following the High Commissioners arrival at 10.55am and will be concluded by a Lancaster Bomber fly past by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at 1.50 pm
 

From: http://www.creswell-crags.org.uk/News/2011/5/