Sheffield pensioner Tony Foulds makes emotional visit to grave sites of Mi Amigo airmen
All 10 crew on board the badly damaged B-17 Flying Fortress, known as Mi Amigo, were killed when it plummeted from the skies and crashed into Endcliffe Park in 1944.
Tony, now aged 83, was one of a group of school children to witness the tragedy and has been diligently revisiting the site and tending to a park memorial for several decades.
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Hide AdHis story hit the headlines across the world earlier this year and inspired a military flypast over Sheffield to mark 75 years since the tragedy in February.
Military and political leaders on both sides of the pond heralded this as a prime example of the enduring special relationship between the UK and US.
Ever since the momentous occasion Tony has struck up a friendship with US Ambassador Woody Johnson.
And the distinguished statesman, who is America's most senior representative in the UK, invited the Lowedges grandfather-of-four to attend a D-Day memorial service at the Cambridge American Cemetery at the end of May.
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Hide AdHe was given the chance to sit in the cockpit of a Flying Fortress – similar to the model that crashed in Sheffield – and also laid flowers at the gravesides of three of the crewmen who died in the Sheffield crash.
Tony said: “It was a very emotional day. I got to sit in the co-pilot seat and we went along a runway for a bit.
“It gave me a real sense of what it must have been like for those brave lads.”
The Mi Amigo had completed a daring day time raid on the Aalborg airfield in occupied Denmark but was hit in the attack and limped back over the North Sea.
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Hide AdIt is believed the crew was attempting to make an emergency landing on the field – but when they spotted Tony and his friends on the grass they diverted and crashed into a nearby wooded area to avoid landing on them.
The pilot, lieutenant John Kriegshauser was awarded a posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross for minimising loss of life.
Their ultimate sacrifice left Tony with feelings of deep-seated guilt and he has visited the scene and tended to the memorial regularly ever since.