Although I enjoy wandering around a graveyard as it tells so much about the history of a community, I find some of the stories especially sad. This is particularly so when the graves are of people buried far from home.
Almost in the centre of the more recent section of St Duthus' graveyard is a group of eighteen matching gravestones and a black marble slab....
....dedicated to the memory of members of a Czechoslovak RAF squadron killed during the Second World War.
No 311 Squadron was the RAF's only Czechoslovak-manned medium and heavy bomber squadron. It suffered the heaviest losses of any Czechoslovak formation in the RAF - 273 out of the 511 personnel killed. The squadron was transferred to Tain in August 1944. By that time they were operating with Coastal Command, carrying out night anti-submarine patrols. They left Tain in August 1945, the squadron later becoming part of the Czechoslovak Air Force.
Some of the casualties came from aircraft which crashed during take-off and landing. In one case, where all the crew died, the pilot was praised for bringing his Liberator down in a field, missing the town of Tain.
The airfield is still visible just to the east of Tain. The area is now used by the RAF as a bombing and gunnery range.
This may be a sad section of the graveyard as it contains people who died far too young, but at least their graves are carefully tended by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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