Sapper George Onions helped in clearing Alderney of over 30,000 land mines after the war was over and before the evacuated population returned home to the island in December 1945.
He served with the 259 Field Company of the Royal Engineers and worked in Jersey before transferring to Alderney to do the work with the aid of German prisoners.
His family in Stoke-on-Trent were expecting him home soon, but on the fateful day, 21st June 1945, Sapper Onions was unloading a lorry filled with land mines when a box of detonators deemed to be safe, exploded, mortally wounding him.
He was the only British soldier to lose his life on the Island of Alderney.
