diff --git a/RELEASENOTES-1.4.md b/RELEASENOTES-1.4.md
index 9bf0b7c3..06d97d70 100644
--- a/RELEASENOTES-1.4.md
+++ b/RELEASENOTES-1.4.md
@@ -359,3 +359,5 @@
 - `note 6` Improved the log messages that are output by default for partial register accesses (fixes [#356](https://github.com/intel/device-modeling-language/issues/356)).
 - `release 6 6385`
 - `release 7 7080`
+- `note 6` The `map_target` template from `utility.dml` now frees the internally
+ created map target when the object instantiating the template is deleted.
diff --git a/lib/1.4/utility.dml b/lib/1.4/utility.dml
index f1a17f0a..7181fd46 100644
--- a/lib/1.4/utility.dml
+++ b/lib/1.4/utility.dml
@@ -1238,7 +1238,7 @@ template bank_obj is (bank, name) {
 
    The template defines the following methods:
 */
-template map_target is (connect, _qname) {
+template map_target is (connect, _qname, destroy) {
     session map_target_t *map_target;
 
     interface ram { param required = false; }
@@ -1272,6 +1272,11 @@ template map_target is (connect, _qname) {
         this.map_target = obj ? SIM_new_map_target(obj, NULL, NULL) : NULL;
     }
 
+    method destroy() default {
+        SIM_free_map_target(this.map_target);
+        this.map_target = NULL;
+    }
+
     /**
        * `read(uint64 addr, uint64 size) -> (uint64) throws`