Royal Navy Officer at a Funeral in Germany- Picture Mystery

Discussion in 'Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy' started by MTG, Feb 3, 2021.

  1. MTG

    MTG Member

    Fantastic Itdan. My upmost thanks to you and everyone who has participated in this thread. Amazing what can be done when working together and sharing information. I will record all of the discoveries so that this little particular story of WWII will not be forgotten nor remain unknown.
     
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  2. DaveB

    DaveB Very Senior Member

    Great work Itdan - here is the CWGC re-burial report from October 1946 for

    Flight Sergeant Neil Erskine Byres - Service Number 640781 Royal Air Force - son of Thomas and Marion Byres of Aberdeen

    Pilot Officer Richard John Heavens - Service Number 83997 Royal Air Force - son of Frank and Henrietta Heavens / Husband of Jean Bain Heavens of Redbourn, Hertfordshire

    Sergeant Walter George Price - Service Number 902862 Royal Air Force - son of John Seldon Price and Georgina Emily Price of Combe Martin, Devon

    Flight Sergeant Eric William Sponder - Service Number 751927 Royal Air Force


    I have also attached an extract from Map Sheet L3 showing Bevern just below Hesedorf - the CWGC report lists the original burial location as Map Reference (MR) 956391 (middle bottom of the square next to the word Bevern)

    And just for S&G also attached is the Bevern churchyard as it looks today

    I just went through and added edits to all of previous posts as they are all now red herrings, finding that letter & additional photo definitely put this all to bed. (PS - I spent 5 minutes being confused as to how a letter was sent on the 5th of June advising someone of the loss from 23rd June - until I realised it was the following year)
     

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    Last edited: Feb 7, 2021
  3. ltdan

    ltdan Nietenzähler

    Ahem....
    Without the exceptionally competent and inspiring cooperation, OUR success would have been more than questionable
    Here again the old insight proves true that the whole is more than the sum of it´s parts

    I almost dare not ask, but:
    In the course of the research here I have found convincing indications that the remains of 2nd pilot Sergeant Ralph Keighley (1058822) still rest in the debris of Z8835 at the 1941 crash site.
    Is this officially documented somewhere, or is he still considered missing without a trace?
    If any of the specialists here feel called upon to keep an eye out for this....
     
    MTG, Wobbler, DaveB and 2 others like this.
  4. JDKR

    JDKR Member

    A classic ww2talk investigation and result. This all started on 2 Feb when I read MTG’s blog entry on Helion & Co’s web site in which he requested help with the photos. My advice to him was to sign-up to ww2talk at the earliest opportunity and get his question out there. While I was confident that there would be some answers forthcoming, I had no idea they would be so quick in coming and so comprehensive. My congratulations to all involved.
     
  5. Wobbler

    Wobbler Well-Known Member

    Hear, hear! Brilliant stuff all round.
     
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  6. MTG

    MTG Member

    Yes- fantastic work by all!

    I am currently working to identify any next of kin so I can provide them with the full story as well as the images that came from my grandfather's collection. I will also forward the information to the IWM and AWM so they can update the images they have on file. For example, the AWM image talks of a Blenheim bomber and the burial being in August. We now know that both of those statements are incorrect.

    Below is a first draft of my report. I tried to pull everything out of this thread and any accompanying links. Have I missed anything? Any further suggestions? I will be giving full credit to the kind folks of this forum at the end of the report as well. Cheers!


    The burial of RAF airmen at Bevern Cemetery, Germany in 1941- accompanied by POWs from Stalag XB Sandbostel and a Luftwaffe Guard of Honor led by Leutnant Ernst Bauer.


    The following narrative is an account of the events and personnel depicted in the attached photographs.

    On the night of 22 June, 1941, Hampden bombers from 83 Squadron took off from their airfield at Scampton, Lincolnshire. They were to form part of a raiding force of 45 Wellington and 25 Hampden bombers targeting German infrastructure at Bremen. Hampden AD969, code DL-X, was flown by Pilot Officer Richard John Heavens and Sergeant Walter George Price, and also include Flight Sergeant Neil Erskine Byres and Flight Sergeant Eric William Sponder. The aircraft was coned by searchlights while flying low and was shot down near the village of Bevern in the district of Bremervorde, Germany. Official documentation of the flight in the National Archives lists the crash as having occurred on 23 June. All four airmen were killed.

    On the day of the burial, POWs from the nearby Stalag XB Sandbostel were brought in to take part in the ceremony. The highest-ranking officer of the internment camp was Royal Navy Captain Graham Francis Winstanley Wilson (saluting, holding wreath). He was captured after his armed boarding vessel, HMS Vandyck, was sunk by dive bombers off the coast of Andenes, Norway on the last day of the allied campaign in Norway- 10 June, 1940. In the photograph of him saluting the fallen airmen, he is accompanied by Major White of the Green Howards. He was captured while serving with his unit in France, 1940 and became the camp padre (chaplain). The German priest on the left of the image is a civilian and most likely from the congregation in nearby Bremervorde.

    The airmen were accorded full military honors. Leutnant Ernst Richard Bauer led a Luftwaffe guard of honor at the burial. He was serving as a Gruppenleiter at the Munitions Depot in neighboring Hesedorf.

    The burial itself took place in the village cemetery of Bevern despite there being two camp cemeteries further south (Lagerfriedhof Parnewinkel and Sandbostel). Given the crash date, the funeral must have taken place near the end of June or early July. After the war, the airmen were reburied at Becklingen on 3 October, 1946. Their graves are marked in Plot 13, Row F, Graves 1-4.
     
  7. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Out of interest a visit there might be useful at some point in the future just to see if the one headstone in your image 2 still exists, that would surely be the icing on the cake

    TD
     
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  8. ltdan

    ltdan Nietenzähler

    TD
    We can meet then
     
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  9. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Maybe - when covid is over and I have grown extra fingers and toes

    TD
     
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  10. MTG

    MTG Member

    Indeed! I do still have family in that part of Germany- Bremen and Lavelsloh particularly. I'd love to retrace the steps. In the meantime, I've reached out to the town of Bevern.
     
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  11. JDKR

    JDKR Member

    In case it had gone unnoticed, MTG has done an excellent summary of this story on the Helion blog at (no title). You will need to scroll down through a number of articles until you reach 'A WWII Picture Mystery - SOLVED!' . Those of the WW2Talk fraternity (let's not be bashful it was: CL1, Tony56, Alex1975uk, timuk, Itdan, Tricky Dicky, travers1940, JimHerriot, Tullybrone, DaveB, Harry Ree, Wobbler, Lindele) who contributed to solving the mystery get fulsome thanks.
     
    DaveB, JohnH, ltdan and 5 others like this.
  12. Wobbler

    Wobbler Well-Known Member

    Wonderful of Mike to include me but I do not deserve to be in such exalted company. I contributed nothing other than commenting on what great team work and detecting effort all had shown with this most intriguing thread.
     
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  13. JDKR

    JDKR Member

    Not to worry Wobbler, MTG clearly thought you did a grand job so who are we to disagree!:rolleyes:
     
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  14. ltdan

    ltdan Nietenzähler

    in for a penny, in for a pound :lol:
     
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  15. Wobbler

    Wobbler Well-Known Member

    Too kind, chaps.
     
    DaveB likes this.
  16. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    already posted above
    but just shows how helpful this forum is and many who pass by are very gratefull for the help received

    interesting to see the thanks to WW2talk

    Century of the Soldier
     
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