Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WW2 hero is laid to rest.. 78 years on
A SECOND World War airman who died on a top-secret mission has been laid to rest on what would have been his 100th birthday.
Sergeant Peter Twiddy was buried at Tirana Park Memorial Cemetery in Albania, 78 years after the air crash that claimed his life.
Sgt Twiddy was 22 when his Halifax bomber from the RAF’S 148 Squadron went down 120 miles southwest of Tirana on October 19, 1943.
He, six other aircrew and two Special Operations Executive members died when the plane crashed into a mountain near Dukat.
It had set off from Tocra, Libya, as part of an operation codenamed Sapling 7. The mission was to drop supplies and the SOE personnel to aid special forces and resistance groups in Albania, then a puppet state of Italy.
UK ambassador Alastair King-smith said: “The exact cause of the crash is not known. But we believe that one of the engines may have failed.”
Sapling 7 leader Major Gerry Field later buried all nine in shallow graves around the aircraft. After the war, three graves were found and reburied but the other six remained lost.
Last year, a local farmer found a bone and notified a local archaeologist who in turn informed the embassy. Further excavations recovered bones, plane parts and ammo. A bone sample was taken to the UK to be tested and compared against relatives’ DNA and it was identified as belonging to Sgt Twiddy.
He was born on October 20, 1921 in Stockwell, South West London, became a clerk and enlisted in July 1940. His memorial was organised by the Mod’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre. No close family members were present at the ceremony due to health problems, according to embassy staff. But relatives said in a statement: “We are all grateful the mystery as to what happened to our brave family member has been finally solved.”
@Stephenwhite278