My best friend Anne Minay wrote to me today:
Hi
Last evening I went to the Manx Aviation and Military Museum at Ronaldsway Airport. A fascinating place, never been before, full of World War 2 memorabilia and info about the Manx Regiment.
The chap in charge, Ivor Ramsden, was telling us all about the crash on North Barrule on the 23rd April 1945 involving American servicemen and, as you may well know, there is a memorial on the top of North Barrule marking the crash. Every anniversary Ivor raises the American flag on North Barrule and the flag is not in a very good state of repair as it has been used for a number of years. He has written to the American Embassy requesting a new flag but unfortunately has not received as much as an acknowledgement.
I wondered if NAMA would be interested in donating an American flag for this purpose. I thought we could get the newspaper to cover it and in so doing raise awareness of NAMA and the Museum. It is a registered charity and does receive some help from Manx Heritage but the rest comes from donation.
This is the link to the part of their website referring to North Barrule and the incident where 31 American servicemen died in a crash on their way to Northern Ireland for a period of rest when their B17G went straight into the east side of North Barrule on the 23rd April, 1945. This, the worst air accident on the Island, happened only two weeks before the end of the war.
http://www.maps.iofm.net/north_barrule.htm
We covered this story a couple of years ago here.
Also: Ivor has some dog tags belonging to one of the American servicemen and they have tried to trace the family from the details on the tags but have been unsuccessful. They are not on display as he feels they are too personal and should really be returned to the family. I will work on this from my end.
More tomorrow when Ivor climbs North Barrule.
