AN ANNUAL memorial service was held last weekend to reflect on the lives of 23 military personnel who died in a plane crash in Somerset.

The Double Hills Memorial Service was held at the Cross of Sacrifice and at the war graves section in Milton Cemetery, Weston-super-Mare.

Crew members aboard Glider RJ113, were killed in 1944, whilst en-route from Keevil to Arnhem.

The glider crashed in a field called ‘Double Hills’ near the village of Paulton, 79 years ago.

They were the first casualties of Operation Market Garden, a plan to land an allied airborne force behind German lines and bring World War II to an end.

All of the 23 men were buried at Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare.

Respects were paid to the fallen soldiers on Sunday 24 September, with several high ranking personnel in attendance, along with local cadets, who place poppies on each of the 23 graves.

Buglers from the Silver Bugles Band, and Somerset Army Cadets sounded the Last Post and Reveille.

The Mayor of Weston-super-Mare, Councillor Ciaran Cronnelly, was also in attendance alongside his wife Katherine.

The memorial service was led by Reverend Ian Girling, the Weston-super-Mare Branch RBL Chaplain.