A TEACHER who came across the grave of a Second World War airman has touched the hearts of a family.

John Lennox, from Simonstone, works at Stonyhurst College, Ribble Valley, and is originally from Northern Ireland. He was on holiday with his wife, Ann, in Northern Italy, when they decided to visit a British War Cemetery in Padua.

He looked on the register and spotted a man from Northern Ireland and took note of his name - Robert Turkington. John photographed his grave and when they returned home decided to follow it up by contacting people in Ireland with the same name.

He said: "I got a call from a relative who said no one from his family had ever seen his grave, so I sent them a photograph. My wife and I have now been invited to visit his family in Ireland to see the memorial to him in his local church."

Robert Turkington, known to his family as Bobby, came from Derrytrasna, in Co Armagh. He was decorated three times, the final honour being the DSO, which was given posthumously and only went to about 4,000 airmen.

Allen Houston, from Derryadd, a relative of Bobby, said: "I was very pleased to hear from Mr Lennox. All we had was Bobby's medals and a few things because his mother burned everything belonging to him just before her death, she never got over losing him.

"The only picture we had of his grave showed a wooden cross and no members of his family have ever been to his grave." At the outbreak of war, Bobby was working in an aircraft museum in Belfast. He enlisted as a reserve in the RAF and became a Flight Lieutenant with 43rd Squadron based in the Mediterranean. On February 2 1944, he was awarded the DFC, which was the highest award the RAF could bestow. While he was serving with 601 Squadron in August of that year he was awarded a bar to his DFC, only 1,500 were given during the six years of the war.

Bobby was promoted to Squadron Leader and was one of less than a dozen men from North Ireland to hold the rank.

He took command of 241 Squadron in 1945. After peace was declared in Europe, 241 Squadron was left on operational stand-by. But on July 29 Bobby was killed when his plane failed to take off from the runway.

Mechanical failure was blamed. Bobby, who was then an Acting Wing Commander, was just 26. Allen said: "I feel sad about what happened to Bobby, but very moved that Mr Lennox went to this trouble. I think he felt very moved himself."

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