AN annual memorial event will be held on Sunday, September 1, to remember the 23 lives that were lost when an aircraft crashed into a meadow known as Double Hills in Paulton.

All passengers - 21 Sappers and two glider pilots - aboard Glider RJ113 sadly lost their lives as they were en-route to Arnhem as part of Operation Market Garden.

The accident happened on Sunday, September 17, 1944. This year will mark the eightieth anniversary of the Battle for Arnhem and Operation Market Garden, and forty five years since the first Double Hills Memorial event was held.

The annual service has been organised by Royal Navy and RAF Regiment Reserves veteran Peter Yeates. Peter, who was seven at the time of the crash, formed a committee in the early 1970s with a view to erecting a memorial plinth to commemorate those who lost their lives. On September, 23 1979, the memorial was unveiled by Roy Urquhart, the general commanding the 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem and an annual memorial service has been held since.

The Double Hills Memorial was funded by donations and built by Royal Monmouth Regiment volunteers. 

At the memorial event, which starts at 1.50pm on September 1 at Tennis Court Road, 23 men from the Parachute Squadron and Parachute Engineer Regiment will be representing the 23 men who died, together with members of the 676 Squadron Army Air Corps, and will stage a small review and march past Senior Officers within the Double Hills Memorial Field, if conditions permit.

The service will be opened by Reverend Adam Pitt, Vicar of Paulton, Farrington Gurney and High Littleton. Prayers, poems, hymns and readings will all be part of the remembrance event.

Kelly Chambers of the Double Hills & Airborne Engineers Association will read the names of those who have passed are commemorated on the memorial and others who were associated with Double Hills.

Sir Jacob Rees Mogg is a Patron of Double Hills and will also be in attendance to address the crowd on the day. The service is expected to finish at around 3.30pm.