Bomb disposal memorial appeal

A campaign to commemorate those who died clearing landmines from beaches wants to trace relatives of 25 bomb disposal unit members who lost their lives.

A memorial is being planned at Mundesley, Norfolk, to those killed from early 1944 to May 1953 whilst clearing British World War II landmines from Norfolk cliffs and beaches.

The mines were put on the beaches in 1939 to 1940 when Britain faced the threat of a German invasion.

List of Norfolk mine clearance casualties Sapper Ernest Laud Lance Sergeant John Richards Lieutenant Kenneth Perry Lieutenant Charles Leonard Shrimpton MBE Corporal Edward James Griffiths Sapper A W Howsham Corporal Frank A Violet BEM Corporal Thomas Campbell Lance Corporal Albert H Harrison Corporal Samuel Dougherty Corporal George Jones Sapper Stanley James Sullivan Sapper Walter Kenneth Gilbert Corporal William Vaughan BEM Lance Sergeant Leslie G Holbrook Lance Corporal George W Sweetman Lance Corporal Vincent Reginald Goddard Sapper William Palin Sergeant Robert O'Doherty Corporal Kenneth Braddock Lance Sergeant Thomas O'Donoghue Lance Sergeant Thomas O'Donoghue Sapper Francis McMeechan Corporal Amos Henshall Sapper Josiah W Potter

The memorial will be 10 feet high and composed of a casing of a 500 kg German bomb, which is being supplied with a granite base by the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal Unit at Wimbish, in Essex.

Former World War II bomb disposal officer Lieutenant Noel Cashford, 80, of the Norfolk Landmine Memorial Committee, said he wanted "to contact any next of kin to inform them of our intentions".

He said: "Bearing in mind these deaths were nearly 60 years ago it will obviously be descendants but we must make the effort to find them."

He said the list of causalities, all from the Royal Engineers, included people from Great Yarmouth, Norwich, King's Lynn, Highgate, Islington, Hammersmith, Brighton, Abercarn, Irlam, Hull and Chester.

Anyone who recognises a name is asked to contact Lieutenant Cashford on 01629 823179 or email him at [e-mail].