Flier's heroism marked at last

ROSS GIBLIN/Dominion Post

IN MEMORY: Sven Stellin, Pilot officer Stellin's nephew and Betty Nicholle, 84, his sister, honour the man who died saving a French Village.

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A plaque has been unveiled to honour a Wellington World War II pilot more famous in the French village he saved than he is at home.

Pilot Officer James Stellin sacrificed his life in 1944 to make sure his doomed Hawker Typhoon did not crash on houses. Pilot Officer Stellin, 22, was preparing to bail out over eastern Normandy on August 19, 1944, when he apparently realised his plane was headed for St-Maclou-la- Briere.

Villagers saw the plane in difficulty. It then banked sharply to avoid crashing into the village, RNZAF Museum records show. By the time he was able to jump from the stricken aircraft Pilot Officer Stellin was too close to the ground. His parachute failed to open, and he plunged to his death.

France later awarded him a prized Croix de Guerre avec Palme medal.

The plaque was revealed at Stellin Memorial Park in Northland in front of his family, dignitaries, and public yesterday morning - exactly 63 years after his death.

French ambassador Michel Legras joined Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast, Wellington RSA vice-president Trevor McComish and more than 100 others at the ceremony.

"James Stellin is a hero of Wellington, but perhaps more so in Saint-Maclou-la-Briere." Ms Prendergast said. "The French community there will always remember his selfless act of steering clear of their village before he was killed when his plane crashed to the ground."

On his death in 1964, James Stellin Sr, one of Wellington's most influential property developers, gifted a block of land on Tinakori Hill in his son's memory, and $2000 for a plaque.

One man who went to the ceremony said the council should be applauded for at last remembering one of Wellington's fallen sons.

"He's a hero. He saved that village at cost to his life. It's a story that needs to be told."

James Stellin was born in Wellington and attended Scots College. He joined the air force in 1942 and left for Britain the following year.

People in the French village he saved - where he was buried - also would have marked the bittersweet death of their hero yesterday, as they have done for 52 years.

Ms Prendergast said it was about time the same was done in his home town. "Wellington also owes Stellin a memorial that is befitting of such a heroic act."

Northland amateur historian John Bickerton drew the council's attention to the need for a memorial last year - The Year of the Veteran.

- with NZPA