A SOMERSET man who was killed in action during World War II has been remembered with a new memorial installed in his home village, Isle Brewers.
The memorial to Sergeant Kenneth Oliver Brice was unveiled with a small ceremony at All Saints Church on Sunday, March 6.
Sergeant Brice grew up at Frog Lane Farm, Isle Brewers, as one of three children.
He was an engineering apprentice at Yandles Garage in Martock before the outbreak of the war.
When the conflict began, he volunteered as a flight engineer in the RAF and remained in the air force until he lost his life at the age of 21 on April 3, 1943.
Sergeant Brice died along with his crew after their Halifax bomber was shot down over Opheusden, the Netherlands, when they were returning from a bombing mission over Essen.
They are buried at the Uden War Cemetery, which contains over 700 graves from World War II.
Sergeant Brice is the only known World War II veteran from Isle Brewers, despite there being a list of names at All Saints Church of people from the village who served and died in World War I.
Patrick Palmer, Sergeant Brice's cousin, farms at Bower Hinton Farm near Martock.
He is the third generation to work on his family's farm.
Mr Palmer was six years old when Sergeant Brice was killed in action.
He and his cousin Sheila Barrett recently worked with the church to ensure their cousin's name is remembered alongside those who served in World War I.
"His mother and father never really pressed home the fact that his name ought to be on the war memorial in Isle Brewers," said Mr Palmer.
"My cousin and I thought this was an injustice and we wanted to put it right.
"I contacted the vicar, the reverend Phil Dennison, the church warden Delia Pearman, and everybody concerned and got their permission, and then we recently organised a memorial to be erected in Isle Brewers church."
The memorial contains a piece of the aircraft Sergeant Brice was flying in when he was shot down, which Mr Palmer was given by a Dutch farmer.
He said: "About 20 years ago, I visited his grave and paid my respects.
"I also visited the field where his aircraft crashed.
"The farmer told me that his father actually saw the plane come down and explode.
"He and his father had picked up and kept many pieces of the plane over the years, and he kindly gave me some of them."
The memorial to Sergeant Brice is underneath the memorial to Isle Brewers' World War I veterans, which includes the name of his uncle, Maximillian Brice.
Church warden Delia Pearman hopes this will encourage more people to come forward with the names of Isle Brewers residents who served in World War II to be added to the memorial.
She said: "We've been trying to find the people from the village who served or even lost their lives in World War II.
"I knew about Kenneth and, from that, we hoped that other people in the area might come forward and say if someone in their family served in the war.
"We have got a memorial for World War I with a lot of names on it."
She added: "It's a very small village and it's got an interesting history and it's important that we keep our history as knowledge, as it shows where we came from."
All Saints Church was recently renovated after it received £250,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards its restoration and conversion into a community space.
Work on the Grade II-listed building began in May 2019 and took around two-and-a-half years to complete.
The project saw the church's roof repaired and adaptations made to turn it into a space for community activities and events, such as the installation of a small kitchen.
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