Sleepyhillock war graves renovation underway
The fallen airmen of the first and second world wars were remembered on Wednesday as a programme of grave renovation began in an Angus cemetery.
- By Graeme Bletcher
- Published in the Courier : 17.02.11
- Published online : 17.02.11 @ 04.16pm
Herbaceous borders and turfed areas surrounding the 132 resting places contained within Sleepyhillock Cemetery in Montrose are to be replanted by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as part of a £2500 maintenance project.
Included in the works are the graves of pilot James Robert Menzies from Alberta in Canada and navigator David Nicholas Edwards, who both died when their RAF Liberator went down at the Hill of Wirren, 16 miles north-west of the town, in 1944.
The men, aged 22 and 21 respectively, were travelling from RAF Leuchars with nine other crewmen to conduct an anti-U-Boat patrol over the seas of Cape Wrath around 350 miles up the east coast.
As soon as the Liberator took off it was in deep cloud and a malfunctioning compass sent the airmen crashing into the hillside. Firefighters and first-aiders from Brechin took the injured to Ward 15 of Stracathro Hospital but flight officers Menzies and Edwards died.
Most of the casualties buried at Sleepyhillock served in the British and Commonwealth air forces, although a number of army and naval servicemen were also laid to rest there.
A total of 39 graves date from the first world war, with 93 from the second world war — eight of which are Polish.
Dan Paton of the Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre said, "Of all the people brought here only a small amount were actually from Montrose, with the others coming from the likes of Canada, New Zealand and Poland.
"Those lost were either taken back to their homes to be buried or they were buried here, and that is why a large proportion of the graves belong to servicemen from overseas.
"There were many killed in both wars and flying at that time was a dangerous business."
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