RSL members, dignitaries and the general public gathered at a parking bay on the Princes Highway between Millicent and Kingston on Sunday for a commemorative service.


They paid their respects at the roadside memorial at Reedy Creek to the crew of RAAF aircraft Anson AW678 which crashed nearby during World War II on August 11, 1942.


The service was jointly arranged by the Robe and Kingston RSL sub-branches and was timed to occur 82 years to the day and hour of the crash.


All paused to remember the five young RAAF personnel who lost their lives at Reedy Creek.


A wreath was laid and the Ode of Remembrance was recited.


Afternoon tea was afterwards served at the Kingston RSL clubrooms.


A memorial consisting of a metal plaque mounted on a slab of granite was erected in 2005.


The crew was involved in a training exercise from their RAAF Air Observers School base at the Mount Gambier Airport.


En route, the twin engine aircraft went out of control and crashed in Reedy Creek, some 19km southeast of Kingston.


All five crew members were killed and their names are recorded on the plaque.


The crew composed Sergeant William Nathaniel Higham Flemming, Sgt John Edward Moorhouse, Leading Aircraftsman Charles Thomas Fletcher, LAC William Ross Bremner Fenton, and Sgt Malcolm Albert Thiele.


No cause of the crash was ever determined.


The memorial is located near where the now-defunct Kingston/Naracoorte rail line had crossed the Princes Highway.