War Memorial, St Kilda.

War Memorial, St Kilda.

Location

In a small chapel on the isle of Hirta in the St Kilda archipelago of the Outer Hebrides.

Description

A wood and metal panel in memory of RAF personnel who lost their lives on St Kilda during the second world war.

Inscription

IN MEMORY OF
Royal Air Force personnel who lost their lives on St Kilda

Sgt William DUXBURY   RAFVR
Sgt Stanley THORNTON   RAFVR
WO Cecil OSBORNE   RNZAF
F/O Richard FERGUSON   RNZAF
F/O William THOMPSON   RNZAF
W/O John LLOYD   RNZAF
F/Sgt Bryan BOWKER   RAF
Sgt Roy LEWIS   RAFVR
Sgt Scoular THOMSON   RAFVR
Sgt Francis ROBERTSON   RNZAF
Sgt David ROULSON   RNZAF
F/Sgt Oliver REED   RNZAF
Crew of Beaufighter LX798
which crashed on Conachair
4 June 1943
Crew of Sunderland ML858
which crashed on Gleann Mhor
8 June 1944
The crew of the unidentified aircraft
believed to be a Wellington
which crashed on Soay

+ G reater love no man hath than this
 that a man lay down his life for his friends


Notes

This memorial is shown on a Cheshire orientated web site because one of those remembered is Bryan BOWKER, of Hazel Grove, Cheshire.

The St Kilda islands are arguably the remotest of the British Isles. They are in the Atlantic 50 miles west of the other Outer Hebridean Islands, themselves 50 miles west of the Scottish mainland. St Kilda's original inhabitants won a difficult living from sheep and seabirds. That community quit the islands in 1930 leaving them uninhabited, except for Soay sheep, and sometimes defence personnel. The one village has changed little since it was abandoned. Few people brave the often wild and difficult ocean crossing, but a visit is rewarding.

War Memorial, St Kilda.
A battered aircraft propeller lying outside the chapel.

War Memorial, St Kilda.
The village street.

War Memorial, St Kilda.
Walking past drystone storage cleits.

War Memorial, St Kilda.
Soay sheep.

Carl's Cam