A MEMORIAL service to unveil a plaque commemorating the life of Flying Officer Peter Pease will take place on D-Day.

He a member of one of the great North-East families, killed in the Battle of Britain on September 15, 1940 and buried in the family grave at Middleton Tyas 12 days later. He was 22.

A high achiever at Eton and at Cambridge, he was suggested as a future Foreign Secretary.

He was commissioned into the RAF Voluntary Reserve in 1938, joined 603 Squadron in July 1940 and had been in several dogfights before his Spitfire was shot down near Kingswood, in Kent.

John Oakley, a professor of law at the University of California, had discovered the story of Peter Pease almost accidentally but took to his story so much he determined to mark his heroism.

His plans for a memorial plaque in St Michael and All Angels Church, Middleton Tyas, are going ahead after years in the planning on Wednesday, June 6 at 11am, and Pease family members will be present.

Members of the public are welcome to attend the unveiling to find out more.