In the 70 th Anniversary year of the formation of the Air Training Corps, Staff and Cadets of No. 1459 (Heart of England ) Squadron, Air Training Corps have visited the grave of a fallen cadet from the Second World War.

Sgt. John Henry Hollis R.A.F.V.R. became a member of the Squadron when it was founded at Balsall Common in 1941. He was born in Meriden , the son of Walter & Annie Hollis. He joined up and was posted to No. 463 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force as an Air Gunner.

On the night of 21 June 1944 , his Lancaster Aircraft, DV280, flew from RAF Waddington to take part in a mission to bomb Synthetic Oil Production plants in the Ruhr Valley in Germany . Early on the morning of the 22 nd June, the Aircraft was shot down near Uden, Holland , with the loss of 6 of its crew. A 7 th member was taken as a prisoner of war. The crew now reside in immaculately kept graves at the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Uden town. John Hollis was 19.

The visit coincided with a trip to Arnhem , Holland . The Squadron has participated in a commemorative march for the last few years to honour members of the First Allied Airborne Army that took part in Operation Market Garden, dramatised in the film ‘A Bridge Too Far'.