Sign in
☰
People MPsHouse of LordsGovernmentOppositionPartiesCommittees Votes Commons votesLords votesVotes by issueTopicsStats & rankingsParliament in numbers Legislation BillsEarly day motionsPetitions Elections Election resultsConstituenciesWho is my MP? Scotland OverviewMSPsScottish GovernmentVotesBillsMotionsCommitteesConstituencies & regionsElections Search Sign in

Motion · S6M-02951 · 25 Jan 2022

Coalsnaughton Second World War Airman Remembered in Brielle, Netherlands

Lodged by Alexander Stewart Standard Motion 28 supporters

The motion

That the Parliament welcomes the news that the memory of an RAF airman from Coalsnaughton, whose bomber was shot down during the Second World War, is being preserved in a Dutch town with a permanent plaque, which has been added at the gravestone of Clackmannanshire flight engineer, Sergeant David Dickson, who was killed when his Avro Lancaster bomber went down on 22 May 1944; understands that, standing as the only Commonwealth grave in the cemetery at Brielle, near Rotterdam, Sgt Dickson's headstone has been of interest to some of the Dutch residents for many decades; further understands that, according to a news report in the Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser, in 2020, the Dutch residents regard the RAF airman as "one of their own", and local, Rinus Boshuisen, himself a former airman, had been looking to identify the fallen RAF flight engineer; understands that Ian Dickson, David’s cousin, made contact with Mr Boshuisen, who has been voluntarily maintaining the grave and managed to finally secure photographs after around 75 years; considers that the Dutch War Graves Commission, which is understood to have been initially looking to include a uniform appearance at all graves, has now attached a small plaque beside the grave that contains a photograph, which the airman's granddaughter sent in 2020, and a precis about the missions; understands that Sgt David Dickson, whose father was a shunter for the railway at Tillicoultry, was one of seven crew on a Lancaster bomber, based at RAF Kirmington, Lincolnshire, with No. 166 Squadron, which took off late in the evening in May 1944 to bomb Duisburg in the Ruhr, but, as it returned, was spotted by a German fighter pilot over the Dutch coast and was shot down; sends its condolences to Sgt Dickson’s family, and wishes them all the best in their future travels once they are able to revisit his grave.

Supporters (28)

Source: the Scottish Parliament motions and amendments record.