JUST inside the top gated entrance to Maldon Cemetery, on the right hand side, is a small plot containing eight distinctive Commonwealth War Graves.

Over the years I have written about most of the men commemorated there including Private Argent, tragically killed in a training exercise preparing for D-Day in 1944; Flight-Sergeant Arnot, the pilot of a Lysander that crashed in Althorne in 1942; and Flight-Lieutenant Ball and Flying-Officer Kemp, the crew of a Mosquito that came down in Tolleshunt Knights in 1943.

However, until now, I have never written about Fred Saffill.

I have Maldon resident Margaret Still to thank for making me do so, and I am really pleased that she has.

Margaret has a deep interest in Fred’s story and the clue to that fascination is the fact she is a Kiwi.

Fred wasn’t from New Zealand himself, rather he was born here in Maldon, in 1916, the son of Henry and Alice Saffill of 17 Mundon Road.

Fred was living in that house with his parents and his brothers, Dennis and George, in 1939 and the 23-year-old, with his life ahead of him, was working as an engineering machinist.

The following year, in April 1940, he married his sweetheart, Eva Joan Taylor, in Maldon.

At that stage the Second World War had been raging for more than six months and Fred inevitably had to go and do his bit for King and Country.

He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and became an Air Gunner Sergeant (number 1882066) with 75 Squadron, stationed at RAF Mepal, Cambridgeshire.

Although 75 Squadron was officially controlled by the RAF until VJ Day, it was the very first Commonwealth unit to be created in the war and, as it was dominated by brave volunteer aircrew from New Zealand, it became 75(NZ) squadron.

In March 1944, 75(NZ) squadron began exchanging their Stirling bombers for Lancasters.

Fred was part of the crew of one of those new aircraft, a Mark 1, serial number ME450, AA-W (Whisky).

That particular Lancaster was delivered to the squadron in January 1945 and Fred and his fellow crew members flew it during key operations - bombing missions on Dresden, Dortmund and Cologne.

The attrition rate for such aircrew was horrendous and the Lancaster was one of the most dangerous places to be in the entire war - the life expectancy of a new recruit being just two weeks.

Fred’s position as part of the seven-man crew in ME450 was mid upper gunner, a role that required him to be on constant look-out for enemy fighters - to spot them and shoot them down when they were attacking from all sides.

On Monday, February 26, 1945 at 10.52hrs, the RNZAF pilot, Noel Thorpe, eased his bomb-laden Lancaster into the air out of Mepal.

Fred was in his usual allocated position as were the rest of the team – Allen Francis (the RNZAF wireless operator), John Duke (flight engineer), George McManus (navigator), H Hark (rear gunner), and Joseph Alfred (air bomber from Port of Spain, Trinidad).

They were to be part of a daylight raid by 3 Group on the Hoesch benzol-oil production facility in Dortmund.

All seemed to go well until their return to base in formation with other squadron aircraft.

Almost home, ME450 was over Mepal when it was seen for some unknown reason to suddenly and drastically turn starboard.

It immediately lost height and struck the ground, crashing near some gas works at Chatteris, Cambridgeshire.

It was 4.10pm and the tragedy of ME450 resulted in the deaths of all but two of the crew – only Flight-Sergeant Francis and Sergeant Hark surviving to tell the tale.

Among those that made the ultimate sacrifice that day was 29-year-old Frederick Henry Saffill.

Sadly, the destruction of an allied bomber was an all too common occurrence.

The wreckage was quickly recovered, letters of condolence sent to relatives by the commanding officer and arrangements made for the burial of the dead. Sergeant McManus and Flight-Sergeant Alfred were laid to rest in Cambridge City Cemetery.

Flying-Officer Thorpe was taken to Ilford (Barkingside) Cemetery.

Sergeant Duke died from his injuries on February 28 and was cremated at Stockport.

Fred Saffill’s body was repatriated to his home town of Maldon where his headstone can still be seen to this day (at position R62.G95).

Meanwhile at Mepal, 75(NZ) Squadron has a memorial garden and plinth not far from Chatteris where a service takes place every Remembrance Day, along with a reunion weekend to reflect on the achievements of the squadron, but also the loss of 1,139 members killed between May 1940 and April 1945.

Margaret is the squadron association’s secretary and can recall a time when 200 would attend these events.

Sadly most of the original veterans are no longer with us, but have been replaced by sons, daughters, nephews and nieces and friends.

And what specifically of those associated with ME450?

Margaret tells me that there is a plan to commemorate the crew and their loss.

Some research has already been undertaken and the committee driving the planned memorial have discovered that, in fact, during the war a total of seven aircraft crashed in the Chatteris area alone.

Quite rightly, it has now been decided that the memorial should commemorate all of those crews.

Let’s hope that it comes to fruition as it will bring together those, not only interested in the history of the RAF and Bomber Command, but also the inhabitants of Chatteris, their own local history and, it should be said, those who genuinely care about Maldon’s war-time story.

As one of the squadron association’s members has rather aptly put it: “After so many years, it’s possibly more poignant for those that will walk past this memorial to know nothing of those tragic events until that moment that they do – then leaving with the understanding that the sacrifices of a time long gone, can and should still be remembered today.”

I certainly feel that way whenever I read the inscription on Fred’s Maldon headstone: “So young. So active. So full of life. He gave his life that we might live.”