‘I didn’t know the airmen or their families – I wanted to record the loss of life’

For 42 years, Deric Brock has voluntarily tended a set of 15 graves in a corner of Pembrokeshire. He tells Jonathon Hill why

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IF YOU visit a particular cemetery in Pembrokeshire you might notice a man there cutting the grass, trimming the borders, and generally keeping everything tidy.

You might think he’s a council worker or someone otherwise employed to look after the war graves in the cemetery at Carew Cheriton.

But Deric Brock does it all for free and has done so for the past 42 years - even though he has no real connection to any of the men buried there.

Mr Brock, from the village of Milton, has spent the last four decades not only making sure the war graves are looked after but also that each of the 15 airmen - including men from America, Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands - are honoured and known.

The cemetery neighbours Carew Cheriton airfield, which is now a museum, and the 15 Commonwealth war graves there pay homage to men who died in the Second World War while based at the airfield.

The graves represent only a small percentage of the total number of airmen who were killed at Carew Cheriton, as many were taken back to their homes for burial.

The worst incident happened on April 15, 1941, when the sickbay was hit during a raid, killing 12 airmen.

Nash Villa on the main A477 Pembroke Dock to Carmarthen Road was the scene of the first crash involving one of Carew Cheriton’s aircraft, which resulted in the loss of the crew.

On April 23, 1940, the Henley L3427 crashed in the yard in front of a house, killing Pilot Officer Anthony Leon Victor Barnes and Sergeant Richard Edmund Wilson. Both are buried at the cemetery in Carew Cheriton known as St Mary's.