REMEMBRANCE Day is a poignant time for everyone but for the family of a Crewe airman shot down during the Second World War this Sunday will mean more than most.

Sixty years ago last month, Flight Sergeant Harry Hesketh, of RAF 40 Squadron, died when his plane was shot down over the River Danube in what is now the Slovak Republic.

Harry lived in Richard Moon Street, Crewe, after he was fostered by the Robinson family. After joining the RAF, he followed 40 Squadron from the battlefields of North Africa, offering air support to Montgomery's Eighth Army, and on into Italy, from where he flew his final fatal mission.

In the early hours of October 5, 1944, Flt Sgt Hesketh was stand-in bomb-aimer on the bomber Wellington MF 458A on a mission to lay mines to stop German oil supplies getting up the Danube.

The plane was hit by flak and all five crew died instantly when the aircraft exploded and plunged into the icy, pitch-black water. Only one body, that of Warrant Officer Charles Gunby, was ever recovered.

Not having a body to lay to rest was a cruel consequence of war that haunted thousands of families. Many at least had memorials erected close to where they fell, but even this honour was denied the brave men of MF 458A because tributes to Western servicemen were banned by the former communist regime in Czechoslovakia.

With the fall of the Iron Curtain and the formation of the Slovak Republic, that has changed. But it was not until the British Deputy Defence Attaché, Squadron Leader Graham Clark, began researching the fate of the stricken Wellington that the possibility of erecting a monument to the dead men was raised.

When the memorial was finally unveiled on October 5 last year, near the town of Conuvo on the banks of the Danube, many of the relatives of the lost aircrew were able to attend, including Sgt Hesketh's cousin, Cyril Welch, of Ramsbottom Street, Crewe.

Unfortunately, due to ill health, Mr Welch, 74, was not able to attend the service last month marking the 60th anniversary of Harry's death.

But he is looking forward to Remembrance Sunday knowing his cousin, whose name appears on the Crewe war memorial, now has the lasting tribute his courage deserved.

'He didn't even have to go on that flight,' said Mr Welch.

'He volunteered for it because the usual bomb-aimer in that crew had already served his tour of duty. It is a brave man that does something like that.

'It was a great shame I could not go to the memorial service this year because of my health but the trip last year was the most enjoyable thing I have done in my life.

'I will be attending the Remembrance Day service in Crewe as usual, thinking of Harry, of course.'