A FORMER WW2 evacuee visited a Wiltshire village to see how local children had cleaned up his brother's grave, and brought them some surprising news.

Michael Sampson's older brother, John, was killed, aged just 15, in Crockerton in 1944 in an accident involving a US tank carrier. Children from Crockerton Primary School have spent weeks cleaning up his grave and Mr Sampson visited them on Wednesday to say thank-you. Until then the children and their teachers did not know that two other boys killed in the accident were buried in unmarked graves next to John's.

Val Culff, headteacher, said: "We didn't realise the three of them were buried in a row and we were just treading on the other graves.

"We would really like to make a memorial for them now so people know they are there." Mr Sampson, his brother, and sister Bettina were evacuees in Crockerton and stayed with the Elkins family on Clay Street.

Mr Sampson, 76, who now lives in Amersham, said: "We were evacuated to four places in all, but we were only really happy in one place, and that was Crockerton." John Sampson went back for a holiday with the Elkins in 1944 and was watching a US army convoy on its way to Europe, when a tank carrier swerved off the road. The accident killed John, his friend from the village Christopher Godfrey, and another evacuee.

Mr Sampson said: "He was in Warminster Hospital for four days fighting for his life." The three boys were buried side by side but for some reason only John Sampson's grave was marked.