A village will pay tribute to the crew of American air men who died when their plane crashed during the Second World War.

Whilst many will be aware that this year marks the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, most people will not be aware of another special anniversary in Allhallows.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the downing of a B-17 plane 44/6133 manned by American airmen just off of Allhallows Beach.

On June 19, 1944, the crew of the plane were just 15 minutes away from their base, flying back from a raid on a missile launch site in Zudausques, France.

The plane, already battered from its mission, collided with another plane called Heavenly Body II before dropping out of the sky and into the water below. Only one of the nine crew survived.

Heavenly Body II dropped out of the sky just off of Canvey Point, where there is a memorial to the three out of the nine crew who died.

Until now, there has been no similar memorial in place at Allhallows.

The crew of the 44/6133 didn't have time to have their official crew picture taken before eight of them were killed, or to time to name their aircraft.

The mission they had been out on was the first combat mission for 44/6133 and its crew.

To mark the anniversary of the incident, a memorial plaque will be unveiled in a special day at Allhallows Holiday Park.

The families of those involved will take part in the tribute, on Saturday, June 22 from 10am.

These will include Jeanne Cronis-Campbell, the daughter of only surviving airman Theodore Chronopolos, who will unveil the plaque with Noel Tognazzini, the nephew of the only airman who's body was never found.

Mitch Peeke, a driving instructor who has also written books about military history, successfully raised money for the tribute, and is the organiser of the day.

He said: "I think it's important because we need to remember that those American soldiers were protecting the British as well.

"It's a small piece of a very big war and as time goes on, the bigger stories are forgotten, let alone the smaller ones.

"We have our tomorrow, these guys didn't get theirs'."

All proceeds from the day will go to the Sally B Preservation, a fund to preserve the last remaining airworthy plane of the same type.

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