A PLAQUE has been unveiled to honour the deaths of nine servicemen killed in a wartime bombing raid.

Friends and family of the victims gathered in Melbourne yesterday afternoon as the memorial was unveiled outside the building where the explosion happened 70 years ago.

The bomb, from a German plane, struck near a tent in Church Street where the nine Royal Engineers were billeted, killing eight instantly and wounding another, who later died in hospital.

The plaque has been installed on a wall outside the Senior Citizens Community Centre.

Dorothy Perry, whose uncle John White-Robinson died in the blast, said she was moved by the ceremony.

Mrs Perry, of Redmires Drive, in Chellaston, said: "It was absolutely beautiful. We come down most years, cycling to Melbourne, and we go to the cemetery where my uncle is buried.

"But now we have this plaque, which really celebrates him and those who died with him. We were able to meet other relatives and they were all so happy to see what has been done.

"Although I never knew my uncle, he was only 20 when he died, it was such a young age to go and so unfortunate."

In the bright afternoon sunshine and to the strains of the Last Post played on a bugle, a Union flag was pulled aside to reveal the plaque. Poppy wreaths hung either side.

The names of the nine men who died in the explosion are displayed on the plaque.

They are Lance Corporal N. Wild, and Sappers R. Butterworth, J. E. Carter, H. Cook, A. W. Gardner, H. S. Killiner, J. W. Robinson, W. Saxby and N. Simpson.

Members of the Melbourne branch of the Royal British Legion have helped organise the plaque's installation.

Branch president Richard Heath said donations from residents and businesses in the town, totalling more than £2,000, had resulted in the organisation being able to fund the project.

Mike Reynolds, of Woodville, is a former colonel with the Royal Engineers but he did not serve with the victims.

He has helped piece together the history of what happened on July 11, 1940.

He said: "At about 8am, a German Heinkel bomber was coming back from bombing the Rolls-Royce factory in Derby.

"It had five bombs left and dropped them in a fairly opportunistic way. Two of them struck a house about a mile away, another two hit Melbourne Pool, and then the fifth one hit the ground right here.

"The men were in a tent and were extremely unlucky."

Former Royal Engineer Sergeant Harold Banks, of Nettlefold Crescent, served at the same time as the men who died in the raid.

The 93-year-old was chosen to lay one of the poppy wreaths next to the plaque.

He said: "It was a great pride to me. It brought back a whole lot of memories."