A long-awaited memorial to commemorate the Bethnal Green Tube Disaster of 1943, in which 173 people died, has been officially unveiled in London.
After more than a decade of campaigning and fundraising, the £600,000 Stairway to Heaven memorial in Bethnal Green Gardens finally honours those killed and injured, along with rescuers and medical staff, in Britain’s worst civilian tragedy of World War II. The disaster unfolded on the night of 3 March 1943, when around 300 men, women and children were caught in a terrifying crush in the blacked-out stairwell while trying to seek shelter in Bethnal Green Underground station during an air raid.
Eleven survivors attended the unveiling, including the youngest, Margaret McKay, 75, who was six months old at the time and lost her mother in the tragedy, and Alf Morris, 88, who was rescued as a schoolboy. Also at the unveiling was 102-year-old Dr Joan Martin, who was on hospital duty that night, along with families of victims, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and other officials and dignitaries.