A WARTIME hero will be honoured 75 years after his death.

James Shuttleworth, 68, of Electric Avenue, Westcliff, was planning a visit to his uncle’s grave in the Netherlands on the 75th anniversary of his death.

His uncle, also called James, was shot down and killed in a Blenheim bomber on April 14, 1940.

Plans for a “simple” visit snowballed when Mr Shuttleworth began contacting relatives of the plane’s other crewmembers.

Now, members of the Dutch armed forces, the RAF and the British consulate will take part in a ceremony.

There will also be a procession led by pipers and standard bearers from the Royal British Legion, followed by detachments from the Royal Netherlands Air Force and the Royal Netherlands Army.

In addition, there will be representatives from the Royal Air Force and the British Consulate, family members and local schoolchildren will lay wreaths, and a fly-past will take place by the Royal Dutch Memorial Flight.

Mr Shuttleworth, pictured below, a retired builder, said: “We originally planned simply to lay wreaths on the graves of my uncle and his fellow crewmen, pilot Horace Graham-Hogg and Sergeant John Proctor. But once I started contacting people, our plans just grew and grew.

“We now plan to lay wooden crosses with poppies on the graves of the 34 other RAF aircrew buried at the Moscowa Cemetery in Arnhem.

“In honouring my uncle James, who was only 21 when he died, we believe we will be acknowledging the debt we owe to all those who served inBomber Command.”

Mr Shuttleworth’s uncle James was one of two famous high board divers known as the Heavenly Twins before the Second World War.

During the conflict, his bomber from 57 Squadron was involved in an aerial dogfight on the Dutch- German border against four Messerschmitts.

After his plane was shot down, James and his crew’s remains were recovered by Dutch patriots near Arnhem and given a funeral with full military honours.

Thousands of people lined the streets to watch the hearse, pulled by two white horses, go by.

His identical twin brother, Reginald, was also shot down just onemonth later, but survived and spent the rest of the war in prisoner of war camps.

He later married and had two sons, but died in 1950.

 

BOMBER COLLAPSED IN FLAMES AFTER DOGFIGHT

THE Blenheim bomber in which James Shuttleworth died was on a photographic reconnaissance mission when it encountered enemy planes.

The aerial battle was witnessed by terrified residents of the Dutch border town of Babberich.

One witness wrote: “It was about four in the afternoon on Easter Monday when we were frightened by vast noises of aeroplanes and heavy gunfire.

“We ran outside to see two British bombers being chased by four German fighters. The planes were flying in big circles in the sky exchanging gunfire and one of the English planes ascended into the clouds to look for cover.

“There was more heavy gunfire and the bomber, now burning fiercely, crashed into the ground with tremendous force scattering wreckage over a wide area.”

A letter from an Englishman living in the area was published in the Times on May 3, 1940.

He reports the British bomber “crashed to earth in flames just as it was bringing down its fourth German machine.”

TWINS HAD REMARKABLE REUNION

IDENTICAL twins James and Reginald Shuttleworth were separated at birth, re-united by an amazing coincidence, then tragically parted for ever in the early days of the war.

They were born in Green Street, Forest Gate, East London, on February 25, 1919, to an unmarried mother and then fostered separately.

James was given a home by Mr and Mrs H. Crabb, of Ley Street, Ilford.

Reg was fostered by his grandmother, the wife of a fishmonger called Mr Budd, who lived in Cranbrook Road, Ilford.

Neither boy knew of the other’s existence until they met in an extraordinary incident when they were 17.

James visited the old Ilford Baths in the High Road, where his identical twin – a member of Ilford Diving Club – was already inside. When he tried to pay his entry fee, the cashier thought he was Reg playing a joke.

James showed his identity card and, a few minutes later, the shocked boys were introduced to one another.

They quickly became inseparable.

James joined the diving club, too, and the pair became a team, the Heavenly Twins, winning competitions in London and competing nationally.

In 1938, they joined the Territorial Army and, when war was declared in 1939, they transferred to the RAF and trained as radio operators and gunners.