FOR almost 60 years Kathleen Robinson has kept a pocket watch as a precious reminder of someone very dear to her.

It is the watch that Kathleen bought for her beloved brother John's 21st birthday. But John was never to receive the watch. He was killed while on a wartime bombing raid over Germany the day before his birthday.

Mrs Robinson, now 81, of Chapman Lane, Flackwell Heath, told the Free Press of the tragic story after seeing an appeal in last week's paper for information about the crew of a Lancaster bomber shot down 50 miles north of Stuttgart in August 1943.

Sgt John Goodwin RAFVR, 1603332, from Flackwell Heath, the son of John and Alice Goodwin, was rear-gunner on the raid.

Mrs Robinson said: 'It was so sad. I bought him this pocket watch to give to him for his 21st birthday but he was brought down on the eve. He was such a lovely boy.'

She added: 'There are three of us left, all his sisters, Phyllis who's 79 and Betty who's 73. Phyllis still lives in the area, in Loudwater, but Betty now lives in the West Midlands.

'It broke my mother's heart when John died and she didn't live for much longer afterwards. You see, he was her little boy and it came out of the blue.'

John worked at Glory Mill, Wooburn Green, after leaving Loudwater School at 14. As soon as he was old enough he left Glory

Mill

to

join

the

RAF.

Mrs Robinson said: 'My parents were against it at the start when they found out, but he was so keen.'

Sgt Goodwin was named after his father and Mrs Robinson has kept the tradition going.

She said: 'I named my son after my brother John and he was in the RAF as well for 22 years. He was as keen as my brother to join up.

'My husband served in the RAF, too, for five years during the Second World War and I didn't see him for about three-and-a-half years.'

Shaun McGuire, the cousin of the pilot on that raid, Arthur Marcus Fitzgerald, wrote to the Free Press asking for help in finding information about the two men who died with his cousin on the raid which was headed for Nuremburg.

The other man was bomb-aimer Sgt Henry Albert Toomey, 1383991, of Marble Arch, London, who was son of Henry and Edith Toomey. The sisters are hoping to join Mr McGuire for a photo with relatives of all the men in August 2003, the 60th anniversary of their death.