It has taken decades, but a village that was torn apart by Nazi bombs has finally got the memorial it deserves. The little mining village of Cwmparc was initially a safe haven during the Second World War, but that all changed on April 29, 1941, when it was devastated by an air-raid by Adolf Hitler's fighter pilots.
It's believed the Luftwaffe failed to reach Swansea docks or Port Talbot so they ditched their bombs to lighten their load before returning to their base - with their bombs landing on the small community just outside Treorchy.
Twenty-seven people, including several children, died making it the biggest loss of live in a single night in the Rhondda. The youngest, John Williams, was just 18 months old.
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Devastatingly one of the most tragic events the night witnessed was the death of three young evacuees – siblings who had been evacuated to the Rhondda.
George, 13, Arthur, 11, Vera, 10, and Joan, eight, from the Jameson family had been evacuated from East Ham in London to avoid the blitz there. The children were living with a Cwmparc family at 14 Treharne Street but, sadly, their house was hit during the explosions. Vera was the only evacuee to survive.
In 2019, after years of campaigning, a memorial to remember those killed in the Blitz bombing was given the go-ahead. The Cwmparc Blitz Memorial Project was given permission to build a memorial on land off Park Road in Cwmparc near Treorchy in memory of those who all lost their lives.
After some delays due to coronavirus it was unveiled at a special event on April 30, the 81st anniversary of the bombing. Tragically, one of the people at the forefront of the memorial project passed away before getting to see it unveiled.
Robert Leighton Davies QC, 71, died last year following what his family described as a "brave" battle with cancer. Mr Davies was born in Cwmparc in 1949 and was instrumental in recent years in bringing into place a memorial for the victims of the Cwmparc Blitz. When the planning committee approved the memorial, Robert Leighton Davies, he said: “The construction, at long last, of this strikingly-designed memorial will bring a great deal of joy and satisfaction to so many people, not just those from Cwmparc but from much further afield.
Mr Davies added: “The memorial will rectify a sad omission, namely the absence from the village of a publicly accessible feature which will justly commemorate not only the deaths of the total of 27 men, women and children who were horrifically killed when the bombs fell on Cwmparc on the night of April 29, 1941, but also the debt owed to the 100 and more servicemen from Cwmparc who sacrificed their lives in both world wars and in other more limited conflicts of the past which involved the armed forces of this country.
“Once constructed, this memorial will serve to permanently and vividly remind present and future generations of the residents of Cwmparc, and elsewhere, of events which should never be allowed to fade from memory and lapse into oblivion.”
Mr Davies' family were there on Saturday to see the memorial unveiled. Read more about the night the bombs dropped here.
His son Rhoss said: "He was fiercely proud of his Rhondda heritage – especially his hometown of Cwmparc. In recent years he was passionate about creating a memorial to commemorate the lives lost during the German bombing of Cwmparc in 1941. This resulted in him setting up the Cwmparc Blitz Memorial Project of which he was chairman.
"He worked tirelessly to help raise funds, plan the project, and to engage with the local community. He greatly looked forward to attending the opening ceremony, so it was bittersweet being there without him.
"It was a massive honour for my mother, brother, sister and me to be there to see it unveiled."
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