Bexhill man's link to WWII airman

An appeal was made by the Toren Museum in the Dutch village of Geffen to try to trace the relatives of Sergeant Air Gunner Ernest Charles Isted (pictured), originally from Ashburnham, near Battle.

He was part of an RAF bomber crew killed when their four-engined Short Stirling was attacked by a German night-fighter on July 24, 1942, and shot down over Geffen as they were returning from a raid on the Ruhr industrial area to their base at Lakenheath in Suffolk.

Now the Toren Museum ([email protected]) is aiming to feature information and photographs about the incident and those whose lives it claimed.

After learning of its interest, John Mann, 73, of Barnhorn Road, Bexhill, and his sister Daphne Goodsell, 80, of Marley Lane, Battle, e-mailed the museum to say they were related to Sgt Isted.

Mr Mann told the Observer: “My mother was an Ashburnham girl. She was brought up there and when she met my father, we all lived in Whatlington.

My grandmother and Ernest’s mother were sisters, so my mother and Ernest were cousins and we were second cousins.”

Mr Mann sent further details about Sgt Isted, including more information about where he lived in Ashburnham, to Ruud Verhagen, a member of the Toren Museum. There are now plans to build a memorial in Geffen in honour of the airmen who died in the crash.

Mr Mann said: “I went and saw my sister and I took the information I received back from the Netherlands and she said it was very exciting. It’s nice to think that something is being done to commemorate Ernest as his parents probably would have been too poor to do anything.”