Standards were lowered, heads bowed and wreaths laid at a moving service on Saturday to remember the dead of a horrific wartime disaster off the Pembrokeshire coast.

Dozens of people attended the service at Freshwater West to remember the 79 servicemen killed when two Landng Craft Guns sank in 1943.

The two semi-completed landing craft guns – LG 15 and LG16 – went down after getting into difficulty in a storm while on passage from Belfast to Falmouth.

After being refused permission to enter Fishguard Harbour and then Milford Haven, the craft had no option but to proceed on their way.

Only three people survived the disaster and many bodies were never recovered.

Six crew members from HMS Rosemary also died when their rescue vessel was engulfed by a huge wave.

In 2000 a simple stone memorial was erected in the car park at Freshwater West.

For the 70th anniversary of the disaster in 2013, two new plaques bearing the names of all servicemen that died were commissioned.

Dignataries from across Pembrokeshire and beyond, plus veterans and members of the  Royal British Legion, were among those who attended on Saturday and laid wreathes and placed memorial crosses at the site.