The family of an Angus airman killed during the Second World War have received a medal of commendation 73 years after he was lost in action.
Sergeant Ronald Gove from Hillside served as a navigator in IX (Bomber) Squadron of the RAF until his Vickers Wellington bomber was shot down over Italy in 1941.
His daughter, Wendy Stebbings, never met her father but has received a Bomber Command Clasp after appealing to residents of Montrose and Hillside for information about him.
Mrs Stebbings, of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, said she was raised by her grandmother and knew relatively little about Mr Gove until she contacted relatives of his sister in Hillside.
With the help of letters from residents and her brother-in-law Gerry Palmer, she was able to piece together many things about her father and meet relatives she never knew she had. She said she was “thrilled” to receive the clasp.
Mr Gove was 25 when the bomber went down, with all six crewmen killed.
He is listed on the village’s war memorial.
The Bomber Command Clasp is awarded to commemorate the courage of all those who served with Bomber Command in wartime.
