Flight Lieutenant Richard Hillary

Flight Lieutenant Richard Hope Hillary, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He was killed when his Bristol Blenheim crashed near Crunklaw, Duns shortly after take off from R.A.F. Charterhall on 8th January 1943. He was aged 23. He was the son of Michael Hillary, D.S.O., O.B.E., and Edwyna Hillary of Marylebone, London and was cremated at Golders Green crematorium, London. The reverse side of the Memorial is inscribed thus.” Richard Hillary fought in the Battle of Britain with 603 ( City of Edinburgh ) Squadron. and was shot down and severely burned in 1940. He recounted his experiences in his book ” The Last Enemy ” before returning to flying duties in November 1942. Before the War he had stroked the Trinity College ,Cambridge to the head of the River Oxford. Sergeant Kenneth Wilfred Young Fison his Observer had been a Hockey Blue at Clare College, Cambridge in 1927. He had joined the R.A.F.V.R. in December 1941. The two men had flown together for less than two weeks “. The Memorial was unveilled on 6th November 2001 by H.R.H. Duke of Kent in the presence of the Reverend Geoffrey Fison a relation of Wilson Fison. Funds were raised by Trinity College and a representative lays a wreath there evey year. The memorial itself stands besides the site of the last existing landing light of Charterhall aerodrome.