The sacrifices and bravery of members of 31 and 34 squadrons of the South African Air Force SAAF who died in the Italian Alps in 1944 while dropping supplies to the Italian partisans in the Po Valley 81 years ago, have been remembered at a service in Pretoria.
The annual memorial service, which is usually held at the SAAF Memorial on Bays Hill in Swartkop, was moved at short notice to Hangar 5 at Air Force Mobile Deployment Wing Air previously known as Air Force Base Swartkop, because of rainy conditions expected in the area over the weekend.
Martin Urry, Chairman of the Alpine 44 Club, spoke about his family's connection to an event that has been chronicled as the largest loss of life in a single day in the SAAF's more than 100-year history.
