THE memory of a Coalsnaughton airman, whose bomber was shot down during WWII, is being preserved in a Dutch town with a permanent plaque.

A plaque has been added at the gravestone of Clacks flight engineer Sergeant David Dickson, who was killed when his Lancaster bomber went down on May 22 in 1944.

Standing as the only Commonwealth grave in the cemetery at Brielle, near Rotterdam, Sgt Dickson's headstone has been of interest to some of the Dutch townsfolk for decades.

As reported in 2020, they regard the RAF casualty as one of their own and resident Rinus Boshuisen, 89 and a former airman himself, had been looking to put a face to the name.

Ian Dickson, the Coalsnaughton war hero's cousin, then made contact with Mr Boshuisen – who has been voluntarily looking after the grave – and managed to finally secure photographs after around 75 years.

Since then, Mr Dickson and wife Louise have been looking to visit the grave again and were twice due to travel for VE Day, marked May 5 in the Netherlands, but have been unable due to the pandemic.

In the meantime, Mr Boshuisen has been leaving flowers and plants at the grave, having done so for many years.

However, he was dismayed to learn in September that these have been cleared away time and time again as the Dutch War Graves Commission is looking to maintain a uniform appearance at all graves.

Ian Dickson told the Advertiser: “He was most upset at that and he got in contact with the powers that be and they've put this little plaque beside the grave which contains the photo the airman's granddaughter sent two years ago and a blurb about his exploits.

“It is no longer just a stone with a name and a date – it's now a bit more about him and a photograph.

“We are delighted – when he [Mr Boshuisen] was told to 'take your things off' we didn't know what was going to happen then so we are delighted that we've got this.”

Mr Dickson and wife Louise are determined to visit the grave this year as the town marks its liberation day.

Sgt David Dickson, whose father was a shunter for the railway at Tillicoultry, was one of seven crew on a Lancaster bomber based at RAF Kirmington with No166 Squadron.

The plane took off late in the evening to bomb Duisburg in the Ruhr.

Unfortunately, they were spotted by German fighter pilot over the Dutch coast as they returned and were shot down.