THE appeal in last week's Malvern Gazette for relatives of Hanley Castle airman Joseph Wheildon got a swift response.

Sgt Wheildon died in 1942 when his Short Stirling bomber was shot down over France. Only two of the seven-strong crew survived.

Villagers in Pcy, where the plane crashed, have been tending the graves ever since and want to express their gratitude to the relatives of the dead men.

After being contacted by Maurice Low of Canada, one of the survivors, the Gazette printed an appeal for information last Friday (May 16). Response was not slow in coming. The first call that morning was from Frank Elms of Welland, who remembered going to school with Joseph Wheildon. Joe Little, of Hanley Castle, then called with the information that Mr Wheildon's sister Nora was now living in the USA.

Nora Gurchin, as she now is, phoned in person later that day from Maryland, after having received an email about the Gazette article. She also sent us a picture of her brother with his bomber crew.

She said: "I was 18 months older than my brother and there were just the two of us, so we were very close. He was a wonderful guy."

Mrs Gurchin said that although her brother's aircraft went missing in 1942 after a bombing raid on Turin, it was not until the war was over that the family found out for certain that he had been killed. She said: "We didn't get any details until the two survivors visited us and told us what had happened."

Mrs Gurchin moved to the USA in 1946, having married an American serviceman. She said she would get in touch with Mr Low and exchange memories of her brother.

Mrs Gurchin said her father visited the grave at Pcy but she never had. "I would love to but I'm 81 and it would be a question of the money," she said.

Vivian Kitching, who brought in pictures of Sgt Wheildon in his uniform and riding a bike, grew up next door to the family in Brotheridge Green. She said: "My family was very close to his and I remember Joe very well. He was full of fun."

Mrs Kitching said a memorial to Sgt Wheildon could be seen in Hook Church, including a fragment of the crashed aircraft.