Parish Of Worplesdon Remembers War Dead At Armistice Day Service

Published on: 11 Nov, 2013
Updated on: 11 Nov, 2013

An Armistice Day service of remembrance took place this morning (November 11) at the Jacobs Well War Memorial.

The clerk of Worplesdon Parish Council, Gaynor White, lays a wreath at the war memorial in Jacobs Well.

Hosted by Worplesdon Parish Council and members of the Jacobs Well Residents’ Association, the service was led by the chairman of the parish council, Dr Paul Cragg.

As part of his speech he said: “We mourn the loss of these lives each year on Armistice Day. We should also regret the enormous waste of talent these lives represent. The lives lost are people with much to offer our country.”

Piper Kenneth Thompson.

Piper Kenneth Thompson, a Jacobs Well resident, played the laments Leaving Linsmore and the Flowers Of The Forest at the service, which also included the laying of wreaths and a two-minute silence observed at 11am.

A wreath is laid on behalf of Jacobs Well Residents’ Association.

The plaque on the war memorial records the names of four American airmen of the USAAF who died when their aircraft “Lilly Bell II” crashed in a field opposite the memorial in Clay Lane on October 25, 1944.

At the service, that was attended by more than 30 people, the names of the four airmen were also read out by Dr Paul Crag.

The war memorial at Jacobs Well on the corner of Clay Lane and Queenhythe Road.

The airman who lost their lives were: 1st Lieutenant Mercer Wilson Avent; acting co-pilot, 32-year-old Flight Officer John Edmund Wright; crew chief/flight engineer, 21-year-old Technical Sergeant John R. Hillmer; radio operator, 21-year-old Staff Sergeant Dale E. Dellinger.

See latest story about new details from research into the crash of “Lilly Bell II”.

And the full story first published here in 2012.