Fujairah World War 2 casualty remembered

Sergeant William Donnelly, the only serviceman from Britain and the Commonwealth to die on active service in the United Arab Emirates during the Second World war, was remembered at a special ceremony in the East Coast village of Dhadnah yesterday Donnelly, a navigator with the (British) Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, RAFVR, died on 14 February 1943, when his Wellington bomber crash-landed at Dhadnah after an engine malfunction.
As part of activities marking the annual Remembrance Day, which commemorates those who have died in wars during the last 100 years, a small unit of RAF personnel currently stationed in the U.A.E. conducted a short service at a special memorial erected close to the site of the plane crash and laid a wreath in memory of Donnelly.
"We take great pride in the maintenance of the memorial and it was fitting that a wreath was laid on behalf of all serving personnel that have made the ultimate sacrifice," a spokesman said.
The Dhadnah memorial was erected several years ago on the initiative of His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi, Supreme Council member and Ruler of Fujairah.