It was here, in the shade of the ancient oak trees, that the young pilot lost his life on 4 February 1918 aged just nineteen. He belonged to the British Air Force which was fighting the Austro-Hungarians and the Germans alongside Italy during the First World War. Giuseppe Piccolo, a keen aviation historian, managed to put together McLean’s story following extensive research which began after the identification plate of the second lieutenant’s fighter plane was found in Santa Croce del Montello. The statue portraying the young man was made by the Italian-Canadian artist Armando Barbon. As a tribute to this young Canadian pilot, the Giusti family funded the reconstruction of the English biplane Sopwith Camel MT2494 by the Fondazione Jonathan Collection in Nervesa della Battaglia.