A wartime Pembrokeshire airman is especially remembered in this, the 80th anniversary year of D-Day, thanks to a unique and poignant donation to the Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre.

Trevor Hordley of Pembroke Dock was the pilot of a Lancaster bomber shot down over France in July 1944, soon after the D-Day invasion of Occupied Europe.

Flying Officer Trevor Hordley was just 24 when he was killed on his 13th bombing operation in World War Two. (Image: Hordley Family Archive)

A section of metal from his aircraft was secreted away from the occupying German forces and in 2013 was given to members of Trevor’s family attending commemorative events held annually in the French community of Serifontaine, near Beauvais.

Five of the Lancaster’s crew, including Trevor, are buried in a Beauvais cemetery.

Now, 11 years on, Trevor’s daughter, Christine – who was born after her father was killed – has donated the relic to the Heritage Centre.

Trevor’s niece and nephew, Pauline Cole and Peter Hordley, were joined by family members when they presented the metal section to the Centre’s team on Christine’s behalf.

Pauline Cole and Peter Hordley present the Lancaster section and the suitcase to Heritage Centre curator Gill Saldanha and trustee Peter Mitchell.Wartime pilot Trevor Hordley's family members with three of the Heritage Centre team.(Image: Martin Cavaney Photography)

Efforts are already underway to try and identify where the piece came from on a Lancaster. Plans are to exhibit it alongside an existing information panel telling Trevor Hordley’s story. He was one of over 55,000 Bomber Command aircrew lost on operations in World War II.

Flying Officer Trevor Hordley was one of three sons of Mr and Mrs Hubert Hordley of Gwyther Street, Pembroke Dock.

He joined No 207 Squadron RAF in June 1944 and over the next month flew 13 operations. The 13th, a return mission to bomb a German ‘Vengeance’ weapons storage site on 8th July, was his last, his Lancaster being one of 31 bombers lost that night. He was 24.

Pauline Cole and Peter Hordley present the Lancaster section and the suitcase to Heritage Centre curator Gill Saldanha and trustee Peter Mitchell.Pauline Cole and Peter Hordley present the Lancaster section and the suitcase to Heritage Centre curator Gill Saldanha and trustee Peter Mitchell. (Image: Martin Cavaney Photography)

The family have also donated the wartime suitcase and other items belonging to Pauline and Peter’s father, Roy Hordley – one of the three brothers who went to war from their home in Pembroke Dock. Only two returned.