A COOMA born and bred digger, who died almost 70 years ago when his spitfire aeroplane crashed in England, will be honoured at a memorial service on the weekend in the UK.
Flight Lieutenant Paterson Clarence Hughes, born in Cooma on September 19, 1917, is regarded as a World War II hero, being posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Flt. Lt. Hughes died 12 days prior to his 23rd birthday, on September 7, 1940, following the first mass daylight raid on London by the German Luftwaffe.
His plane crashed after leading a squadron of Supermarine Spitfires to intercept and engage with 350 enemy bombers and more than 600 escorting fighters escaping to France following the raid.
Flt. Lt. Hughes will be recognised for his efforts at the Shoreham Aircraft Museum, Kent, which will hold a Thanksgiving and Dedication of Stone ceremony on Saturday.
Cooma RSL Club member and one of the co-builders of the Pat Hughes Memorial at Montague Hayes Place, Laurie Warne said he was proud Flt. Lt. Hughes was receiving this honour - 68 years after he died.
"On behalf of the other guys who helped build the Cooma monument (in 2003), Dennis Minahan, Stan Howard and Ian Deegan, and all the members of the RSL, we appreciate and are proud that Pat Hughes will receive this recognition. The war hero was honoured in September 2006 when a memorial ceremony was held in Cooma.
'Pat', as he was more affectionately known, went to Cooma Public School and lived at the Mittagang Road property 'Bulong'. He then moved to Sydney with his family in the early 1930s and attended the prestigious Fort Street High School.
Even as a teenager living in Sydney, Flt. Lt. Hughes was interested in flying, according to former school mate and Cooma resident Jock Goodwin, who said Pat enjoyed creating model Biplanes and Tiger Moth aeroplanes out of balser wood.
"Flying was rare back in the 30s but Pat was always interested in flying as a school boy," Mr Goodwin said.
"The last time I saw him was about 1931 or 1932 and I knew him very well... he was a bright spark and a practical joker," he said.
The legacy Flt. Lt. Hughes lives on through his great nephew, Malcolm Booth of Wollongong, who said the recognition at the Shoreham Aircraft Museum, was humble one for the family.
"I only know him through different stories passed down from mum and her mum, Pat's sister (Dorothy Noel) - she idolised this man out of the entire 14 kids in the family, he was the only sibling she bonded to," Mr Booth said.
"He was an incredibly warm and generous person, nan said, nothing was a trouble - he would go out of his way to help someone he didn't even know."