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La Gruta's grave restored

This World War 2 gravestone in memory of Flight Sergeant A.D.C La Gruta of the Royal Australian Air Force has recently been restored by the Scottish Borders Council Property Services Department. The concrete base of the memorial, constructed in 1941, was badly eroded, NT5757 : The final resting place of A.D.C. La Gruta and has been restored with a cladding of granite blocks, and the memorial stone cleaned up. The poppy wreath was placed at an unveiling ceremony on the 8th May 2009. The 23 years old Australian pilot lost control of his Boulton Paul Defiant after taking off from East Fortune airfield on 19th August 1941 and crashed into the hillside on Hunt Law at the head of the Earnscleuch Water in the Lammermuir Hills. The memorial can be accessed from Burncastle Farm along a track for 7.5km and then for 500m across heather moorland. Flight Sergeant La Gruta’s family contributed to the cost of the repairs.