Fellow airmen held a memorial for a search and rescue team member seven years after he died during a rescue off the coast of Bermuda.

About 70 friends, family and reservists of the 920th Rescue Wing gathered on Sunday in Florida to unveil a freestanding plaque naming the Wing's parachute-rigging building after Staff Sgt. Douglas Eccleston.

His widow, Stacie Eccleston said: "It's a great honour. Being there brought back a lot of memories, good and bad. But it was great to see the Eccleston family and his friends coming together."

Sgt. Eccleston, 35, was killed December 7, 2001, on his first jump mission to rescue a crew member of a Malaysian tanker ship 200 miles southeast of the Island.

The 920th Rescue Wing is a highly trained combat search and rescue unit that also supports space shuttle and rocket launches.

On Sunday, those gathered in the theatre of the Wing's base and watched a video and then toured the new building.

"He was an intense family man, crazy about surfing and a really fun person," said Mrs. Eccleston. "Now people will remember him whenever they visit this building."