Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 2, 2022 19:21:02 GMT 12
From the Press, 12th of May 1979
Lonely trip in tribute to dead airmen
NZPA London
Four New Zealanders will make the turbulent sea crossing from Scotland to the barren North Atlantic island group of St Kilda later this month to commemorate relatives who died there 35 years ago.
They have come from New Zealand especially to attend a memorial service for six New Zealanders and other allied airmen who were killed in the island group, 65km west of the Outer Hebrides. The New Zealanders, and an Australian serving in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, were part of a crew of a Royal Air Force Sunderland flying boat which crashed on the small rock island of Hirta, in the St Kilda group, in June, 1944.
Their bodies were identified and their remains buried at sea. However, an Edinburgh Roman Catholic priest (the Rev. Father John Barry) decided late last year to hold a memorial service for them and other aircrew who lost their lives on the islands.
A memorial plaque will be erected at Hirta’s 100-year-old church on the day of the service, May 24, which is Ascension Day.
The airmen were the captain of the aircraft, Warrant Officer Cecil Osborne of Ashburton; Flying Officer Richard Ferguson, of Te Kuiti, the Navigator; Flying Officer Bill Thompson, of Christchurch; Warrant Officer John Lloyd, of Wellington; Sergeant Frank Robertson, of Takaka; Sergeant David Roulston, of New Plymouth; and Flight Sergeant Oliver Reed, of Brighton, Victoria, who joined the R.N.Z.A.F. in 1938.
Sergeant Roulston’s widow. Mrs Sybil Sutherland, and his sister, Mrs Margaret Roulston, both from New Plymouth, will join Mr and Mrs Philip White, of Auckland, a sister and brother-in-law of Warrant Officer Lloyd, at the service.
A Scot and an Englishman were also in the Sunderland, which crashed into a rock wall on Hirta while on an operational training flight. A Royal Air Force, recovery crew buried the bodies at sea and also buried some parts of the aircraft. However, some wreckage is still scattered over the island.
The St Kilda group is so desolate that its only inhabitants were evacuated on Government orders in 1930. It was deserted in 1944 and later bought by the National Trust of Scotland, which is now restoring some nineteenth century cottages and the church on the island.
It now has inhabitants — an Army detachment manning a radar installation who will provide the colour party for the service. Access is only by helicopter or chartered boat.
Father Barry will take his congregation of 12 to the island in a converted fishing boat now used for pleasure cruises in the Outer Hebrides. The service is also for the crews of a Beaufighter and a Wellington bomber who were killed on St Kilda during the war.
Lonely trip in tribute to dead airmen
NZPA London
Four New Zealanders will make the turbulent sea crossing from Scotland to the barren North Atlantic island group of St Kilda later this month to commemorate relatives who died there 35 years ago.
They have come from New Zealand especially to attend a memorial service for six New Zealanders and other allied airmen who were killed in the island group, 65km west of the Outer Hebrides. The New Zealanders, and an Australian serving in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, were part of a crew of a Royal Air Force Sunderland flying boat which crashed on the small rock island of Hirta, in the St Kilda group, in June, 1944.
Their bodies were identified and their remains buried at sea. However, an Edinburgh Roman Catholic priest (the Rev. Father John Barry) decided late last year to hold a memorial service for them and other aircrew who lost their lives on the islands.
A memorial plaque will be erected at Hirta’s 100-year-old church on the day of the service, May 24, which is Ascension Day.
The airmen were the captain of the aircraft, Warrant Officer Cecil Osborne of Ashburton; Flying Officer Richard Ferguson, of Te Kuiti, the Navigator; Flying Officer Bill Thompson, of Christchurch; Warrant Officer John Lloyd, of Wellington; Sergeant Frank Robertson, of Takaka; Sergeant David Roulston, of New Plymouth; and Flight Sergeant Oliver Reed, of Brighton, Victoria, who joined the R.N.Z.A.F. in 1938.
Sergeant Roulston’s widow. Mrs Sybil Sutherland, and his sister, Mrs Margaret Roulston, both from New Plymouth, will join Mr and Mrs Philip White, of Auckland, a sister and brother-in-law of Warrant Officer Lloyd, at the service.
A Scot and an Englishman were also in the Sunderland, which crashed into a rock wall on Hirta while on an operational training flight. A Royal Air Force, recovery crew buried the bodies at sea and also buried some parts of the aircraft. However, some wreckage is still scattered over the island.
The St Kilda group is so desolate that its only inhabitants were evacuated on Government orders in 1930. It was deserted in 1944 and later bought by the National Trust of Scotland, which is now restoring some nineteenth century cottages and the church on the island.
It now has inhabitants — an Army detachment manning a radar installation who will provide the colour party for the service. Access is only by helicopter or chartered boat.
Father Barry will take his congregation of 12 to the island in a converted fishing boat now used for pleasure cruises in the Outer Hebrides. The service is also for the crews of a Beaufighter and a Wellington bomber who were killed on St Kilda during the war.