Saturday marked the 71st anniversary of the D-Day landings, and two brothers made the day even more memorable in Tooting when they unveiled a green plaque in memory of the 35 people who lost their lives to a V2 rocket on November 19, 1944.

Wandsworth Times:

Good turnout: Many came to pay their respects

Crowds gathered at Hazelhurst Road to witness brothers John and Arthur Keeley, who were in number 44 when the rocket destroyed huge parts of the road, reveal the plaque accompanied by the mayor of Wandsworth.

A majority of the victims’ families attended, among them Maureen Ackerman, the last to be rescued from the blast, who laid a wreath in memory of her brother and sister Billy and Betty Ackerman as well as all those was lost their lives in the blast.

After commencing the ceremony by visiting the graves in Streatham cemetery, the 300-strong crowd listened to a poem written especially by a year 4 Smallwood Primary School pupil before being led to St Mary’s Church accompanied by a stirring pipe finale by a member of the London Irish Rifles.

Here, memories were exchanged at the end of an extraordinary day that will now always be remembered by the sight of a green plaque.

Sadiq Khan MP read from a letter written by escaped PoW Douglas Kitts, who was killed at number 36.

Wandsworth Times:

Touching: The crowds heard from people who were saved 

He wrote to his cousin just weeks before the deadly bomb dropped. A fire crew also attended the event, having been based at the school at the time of the bombing, and many people mentioned how much their presence meant.

Roy Gilbert, 75, recalled his rescue from the devastation, saying: “Me and my brother Frankie got pulled out by firemen in our nightshirts.

“Our baby sister Irene was saved by being in the bottom drawer of a wardrobe that wedged when the blast knocked it over.”