An Isle of Man airman who lost his life during a Second World War mission over the Netherlands aged just 18 is being remembered for his service and sacrifice.

Sergeant John Harold Shimmin, who served with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR), was killed on May 12, 1944, when the de Havilland Mosquito aircraft he was navigating crashed near Wemeldinge in the Dutch province of Zeeland.

John was born at Rose Cottage, the Dhoor in Lezayre, to William Ernest Shimmin and Anna Shimmin.

His father was a schoolteacher at Dhoor School before later becoming headmaster at Cronk-y-Voddy, where the family subsequently moved.

He grew up alongside his brothers and sisters in the rural west of the island, in a close-knit family shaped by his father's work in education.

As the Second World War continued, John joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve, leaving the island to begin training as a navigator.

He undertook the specialist instruction required for operational flying, preparing to take part in missions over occupied Europe. His role involved navigating aircraft through potentially hostile territory, often in difficult flying conditions and under the threat of enemy action.

His final mission began late on May 11, 1944, when his Mosquito aircraft departed from RAF Little Snoring in Norfolk at 11.42pm.

John was serving alongside Pilot Officer Thomas Stanley Ecclestone, with the pair tasked with a patrol over Gilze-Rijen airfield in the Netherlands.

In the early hours of May 12, at approximately 2am, the aircraft was seen flying at low altitude before colliding with a searchlight installation near Wemeldinge.

Both men were killed in the crash.

Their bodies were subsequently recovered by German forces and handed to local authorities, who buried them in the cemetery at Wemeldinge.

Following the end of the war, their remains were reinterred at Bergen-op-Zoom War Cemetery in the Netherlands, where they now lie alongside one another.

The cemetery is the final resting place of 1,284 Commonwealth servicemen who died during the conflict.

John's gravestone carries a personal inscription from his family, reflecting the loss felt by those he left behind.

It reads: ‘In loving memory. Greatly missed by father, mother, sisters and brother.’

At just 18 years old, John was among the many young men from the Isle of Man who left their homes to serve during the Second World War and never returned.

His story is one of the individual sacrifices made by Manx servicemen during the conflict, many of whom lost their lives far from the island.

More than 80 years after his death, Sergeant Shimmin remains commemorated at Bergen-op-Zoom, a reminder of a young life cut short and the families left to remember those who never came home.