A PEMBROKESHIRE airman, who was shot down over Belgium during World War 2, has enjoyed an emotional reunion with a former member of his crew.

Pilot John Evans, who was born in Goodwick, was visited by his former bomb aimer, Bill Robertson, who travelled from Canada for the meeting.

The two men are the last of the crew of a Halifax bomber which was set alight by a German night-fighter on the night of May 12/13, 1944.

They had been taking part on a raid on the railway marshalling yards at Hasselt.

The whole crew parachuted to safety. Both John and Bill were able to make contact with the local resistance.

“We were kept together for a while, then taken to separate safe houses and did not know anything about each other until after the war,” said John, who is now 95.

Many of the people who helped John and Bill were later arrested by the Gestapo. Both met up with those who survived after the war.

“The people who helped us took the most tremendous risks,” said Bill, 93. “For themselves and for their families.”

Both men were hidden until September 1944 when they were liberated by the advancing American forces.

On saying goodbye to John, Bill said: “This may be the last time we see each other. But, who knows, we didn’t think we would have this meeting.”

The men met in Calverton, near Nottingham, where John now lives near his daughter, Judy.

He still has a number of relatives in Pembrokeshire, including his brother-in-law Tom Morris, a retired police sergeant from Haverfordwest, and his niece Georgina Youngs, of Fishguard.

John’s story was told in the book ‘Airman Missing’ by former Western Telegraph journalist, Greg Lewis. The book is currently out of print but is planned to be released as an e-book later this year.

On his trip to Europe, Bill also met John’s brother, Doug, who lives in Surrey and was himself a bomber pilot during World War 2.

Bill then travelled to Hasselt where local historians have laid a memorial stone where the men’s Halifax bomber crashed.