Anniversary of tragic accident marked in Burley-in-Wharfedale

Canadian couple Jeremy and Jamie Stinson, who were in Burley-in-Wharfedale to mark the 80th anniversary of the horror crash, explained that relatives back in Canada were initially told that their loves ones had died in action in France.

One of the soldiers who passed away was Jeremy's Great Uncle, Private Oliver Morley Stinson.

From left, Veterans Jason Sands, Bob Rodgers, Mark Sugrue and the Rev David Pickett with Canadian Jeremy Stinson and Parish Council Chairman Steve Goodwill (Image: Phil Inman)

He and his fellow members of the 6th Canadian Infantry Reinforcement Unit had been travelling back to Farnley Camp near Otley after a night out in Ilkley on June 15, 1944.

They met an untimely death when the lorry, reported to have been travelling too fast, failed to take the Malt Shovel corner and slammed into the house wall of 24 Main Street, leaving a scene of carnage.

After the service, Jeremy said: "I am very appreciative that the people of Burley-in-Wharfedale have a memorial to these men and continue to remember them in such a way. It was a beautiful service today and I never expected so many people to turn out."

He added: "I always knew that I would need to come here one day and see where my Great Uncle died. Back in Canada the relatives of these men were told that they had died in action in France. With the arrival of the internet, I was able to research this and then let relatives of the other men know what really happened.

"They are happy that Burley-in-Wharfedale has a memorial to them and that you continue to remember them. June 15th will always be significant to me, it is also my birthday!"

Veterans Jason Sands (L) and Mark Sugrue (R) assist 88 year-old Army veteran Bob Rodgers to lay a wreath (Image: Phil Inman)

The scene was remembered by an 88-year-old Army veteran, Bob Rodgers, who was at the service to pay his respects.

Bob remembered that on the morning after the crash, as a boy of 8 years and 10 months old, he left his home in North View to go to sing in the church choir at St Mary's Parish Church.

"It was devastating. There was a strange smell, debris everywhere and big scrape marks on the house wall," he said adding "It is a great privilege for me to be here today to pay my respects."

An Army veteran himself, having served with the Royal Artillery in Malta and Libya, Bob was assisted in laying a wreath on behalf of the Ilkley-based Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Club by Jason Sands (ex-Army) and Mark Sugrue (ex-RAF Military Police).

A wreath was also laid on behalf of the people of Burley and Burley Parish Council by the Council Chairman, Steve Goodwill, himself an Army veteran.

Flowers were also laid by Jeremy Stinson who thanked everyone for turning out to remember the Canadian servicemen.

The service was led by Father David Pickett, the Rector of St Oswald's Parish Church, Guiseley. He served 26 years in the RAF and is currently a Padre with the Royal Navy Reserve.

The names of the fallen (Image: Phil Inman)

The event was organised by Nicola Cromwell and the Ilkley Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Club with assistance from Parish Council Chairman Steve Goodwill and Royal British Legion representative Rachel O'Connor.

The Telegraph & Argus reported the accident on June 15th 1944, as follows:

Nineteen out of 21 soldiers were killed at Burley-in-Wharfedale early to-day when an Army lorry in which they were travelling crashed into a house on failing to take a sharp bend in the road. (one died later in hospital).

Instead of taking the bend in the main road at the Malt Shovel Hotel, the lorry appears to have gone almost straight forward and hit the house No 26, Main Street, the home of Miss Florence Roe.

It turned on to its side. Most of the men were found to be suffering from head injuries. When neighbours, hearing the crash, turned out to give assistance, they found that many of the men were still inside the lorry.

Four men were still alive, and were taken to a wardens' post nearby, but two of them died there. The other two were taken to hospital in a serious condition. One of these is said to have been the driver of the lorry.

First-aid ambulances and medical assistance were secured from the surrounding district. One man who came through Burley soon after the accident, said: "There were bodies and blood all over the place."

Apart from a broken fall-pipe and scratches on the wall and door, the damage to the house is not so much as might have been expected. So far as can be ascertained there does not appear to have been anyone in the immediate vicinity who actually saw the accident.

Miss Roe, who lives alone in the house hit by the lorry, remained in bed throughout.

Graphic stories were told by neighbours who were on the scene shortly afterwards. Two of them were Mrs Madelline Ewan and Mrs Jessie Nelson who worked like heroines to succour the men.

The lorry was canvas-covered, the canvas being held up by iron bars, and when the lorry struck the house and overturned these iron struts collapsed and pierced the heads and bodies of the men.

The sight was a ghastly one, and Mrs Ewan told a 'Telegraph and Argus' reporter that: "It was like a plane crash. I went into the street and met a soldier of the same unit who said he had been signalling the lorry to stop, as he was walking in the road, and it seemed to be slowing down when it struck the house side. He was nearly trapped.'"

The scene of the crash near St Mary's Church (Image: Phil Inman)

Mrs Ewan said Mrs Nelson held up the iron bars with her own body while she (Mrs Ewan) attempted to get the trapped men out.

"One of them died in my arms," she said. "We persisted in getting the trapped men out until Mr Bill Clark, of Horsfall Terrace, arrived on the scene, and he, with superhuman strength held up the top iron bar which formed the main support of the canvas. Most of the men were killed outright."

The next door neighbour to Miss Roe, a Mrs Brear, brought water to bathe the men and she was present when the doctor arrived to inspect the bodies.