Sergeant (Flight Engineer) Norman Percy Tutt, RAF - Died 10 April 1943

Welkom Heinie. Hopefully you can add some more info to this interesting thread!

 

I am wondering from which unit this crew was posted to 9 Squadron. They flew their first mission on 1 March 1943, so they might have joined the squadron in February. But the Operation Record Book for February only mentions movements of officers. See image below.

 

My name is Dave White and I live in Hamilton, New Zealand.
The pilot of the Lancaster was my fathers cousin, the family called him by his middle name Miles.
I have been watching with a growing sense of admiration for the family of Norman Tutt in their quest for information and in their remembrance of their lost family member.
I have known about Miles since childhood but have discovered a great deal more detail since stumbling onto this site quite recently. This is a thank you to the WW2Talk community for especially the photos of the headstones which I have copied off and given to an uncle who is of the same generation as Miles, my own dad died last year.
Cheers and many thanks from the other side of the world.

 

Hi David & welcome to WW2Talk. Glad you found this thread useful.

I had the pleasure to meet Norman's Sister after she went to Oudewaater to see where her Brother is buried with the others.

Of course the 69th Anniversary of their death will soon be here.

Regards - Rob

 

Welcome to WW2-Talk Dave. I am glad to see that the information we brought together was useful for you and your family.

 

Hi Rob

I wish to share info about the Lancaster crew who went down over Holland on 10 April 1943 and who are now buried at the Oudewater Protestant Cemetary. The pilot, Miles White, was a relative of mine. Cheers Terence

 

Hi Terence and welcome.

Are you related to Dave White who posted as Whitebird?

Anything you would like to share would be very welcome. If you wish this to remain private, you can send me a private message.

Regards - Rob

 

Good Morning Rob

Thank you for your prompt reply

Yes indeed, Dave and I are related and share an interest in Miles White

Referring back to an earlier post (regarding Flight Engineer Norman Tutt), you spoke of a commemoration ceremony for the Lancaster crew who were shot down on 10 April 1943 and who are now buried at Oudewater Protestant Cemetery.

Is this an annual event -- or was it a one-off?

Further -- do you have any contacts/sources at Oudewater who could add to the story?

Cheers, Terence

 

Good Morning Terrence,

I live in the Rotterdam area, which is in the same province of The Netherlands as Oudewater. From here it is a 30mins drive to Oudewater. I have used the information Rob posted here and send me, supplemented it with Dutch information and have nearly completed an article about the crash.

I have also been in touch with Dave via email. He might have told you about that. I will pm you my contact details, so you can get in touch if you wish.

Regards
Pieter

 

Hi Terence.

I believe they commemorate the loss every year and actually shut the road which runs alongside the cemetery. As to details, I tried last year to find out about the ceremony, but was unable to get any information.

Regards - Rob

 

Hi Rob

First, a big thank you to you and all the Forum members who have contributed so much valuable information about the crash of the RAF Lancaster bomber "Barbara Mary" after being shot down by German night fighter pilot Hauptman Hans-Dieter Frank on 9 April 1943.

I have just visited Oudewater for the first time, where I commemorated the 70th anniversary of the crash of the Barbara Mary with all of its crew killed. Arthur Miles White the pilot, was my father's first cousin. In fact my father was also serving in the RNZAF/RAF at the same time as Miles.

Attached are two photographs of the Protestant Cemetery where the Lancaster crew of seven are buried. I took the liberty of placing flowers at each headstone.

Just visible in the LHS edge of the close shot, is the Oudewater War Memorial statue (the red, white and blue Dutch flag can be seen), surrounded by three new memorials dedicated to locals killed in WW2.

The official commemoration this year will be held in the evening of Dutch Remembrance Day, the 4th of May, 2013. As you state, the road will be closed for the official ceremony. The ceremony will be held in front of the four war memorials described above, which are placed in a garden setting in front of the main gate to the Catholic Cemetery. I am informed that this year, for the first time, there will be an official wreath-laying ceremony on the graves of the Lancaster seven.

Cheers, Terence

 

Hi Terence,

Many thanks for visiting and placing flowers on the graves. I will send a copy of the pictures you posted to Norman Tutt's Sister, as she is not connected to the Internet. I'm sure she will be delighted.

Kind regards - Rob

 

Evening Rob


Yes indeed, please do send photos to Norman Tutt's sister.

I also have a close-up of Norman's grave and I shall send it to your personal mail should you wish to include this with the general grave-site
photos.

Shortly I will be posting fresh information I have uncovered in Oudewater which will be of interest to all those related to the crew of the Barbara Mary.


cheers, Terence

 

Hi Terrence,

Anything you can add to this thread will be of great interest. I've PM'd you about the headstone photo.

With regard to the ceremony on May 4, do you have an itinerary for the ceremony in the evening and details of who is organising it?

Regards - Rob

 

Thanks for sharing these photos here Terrence. Must have been wonderfull to have been there.

 

Hi Rob, Pieter and others following this thread :

During my 3-day visit to Oudewater in Holland last week to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the crash of the Lancaster bomber « Barbara Mary » on the night of 9-10 April 1943, I had the good fortune to meet an 83-year old local resident and amateur historian, Mr Theo Pollemans.

Mr Pollemans has written a number of booklets about Oudewater, two of which specialise in the period of WW2. In both booklets (published in 2005 and 2007) he describes the crash of the Barbara Mary, quoting from the wartime diary of a Dutch woman who was an eyewitness to the crash. This article has already been posted on this site in both Dutch and English translation.

Before she died about 3 years ago, this Dutch woman, Mrs Heinie IJff-Pol, gave her diary to Mr Pollemans. He illustrates her story with a photograph of the Barbara Mary and crew, which too has already appeared on this site.

The two booklets (in Dutch only) are on sale at the Oudewater Tourist Information Point, an office which is located in the centre of town and staffed by very friendly and helpful locals. They can be phoned on +31-348-561628 or emailed at info@tip-oudewater.nl .

Barbara Mary Crash site :
I was bowled over when Mr Pollemans told me the crash site was right here in Oudewater. As we have read, the Barbara Mary went down in a place called Snelrewaard, which I had believed was a few kilometres out of town to the east. It might have been once, but the town has grown, and Mr Pollemans said that the former farm of the eyewitness family had now been swallowed up by residential expansion.

“Look at your map”, he said, “there is a street named after the Lancaster bomber!”

I couldn’t believe it, but sure enough, on the north side of the canal called Lange LInschoten, there it was: Barbara Mary Weg – Barbara Mary Lane. We went there. It is a short lane, at the end of which on the LHS is a new house where the former farm-house of the Dutch eyewitnesses once stood. Way over to the RHS on the other side of a canal, it is still farm land with animals, tractors etc. It is hard to describe my feelings, but walking around that place was very poignant experience. See photos below.


Dutch Archive Photographs :

When I asked Mr Pollemans where he had obtained the photograph of the Barbara Mary and its crew of seven, he said from the city archives, which had been moved to the neighbouring city of Woerden. I was keen to see the original image so Mr Pollemans kindly drove me to Woerden where we visited the city archives. In addition to the Barbra Mary original, here is what else I found :

* The Oudewater War Memorial :
This photograph was taken in August 1945 and the statue hasn’t changed since then, except that it is now flanked by three new memorials (see below).
Mr Pollemans said that the full extent of the Oudewater dead was not known so close to the end of the war, but now their names have been added.
On the old statue, the pilot (my father’s first cousin) Arthur Miles White, has his name incorrectly spelt « Whyte ».

The War Memorial sits in front of the Catholic Cemetery, just across the road from the Protestant Cemetery where the Lancaster Seven are buried. These two cemeteries are located on the southern limits of Oudewater, literally 5 mins walk from the town centre/ tourist office.


* Portrait photographs of the Barbara Mary crew :
Six of the seven crew are featured.

I was pleased to find an excellent photograph of my cousin Miles White, which is different from that posted on this site.

Rob, the photo of Norman Tutt is unlike the others – he is shown in a full-length body shot. All crew are in uniform.


* Oudewater grave-site commemoration ceremony 1945 :
This will be of great interest to all family of the Barbara Mary crew I am sure. There are two photographs of the first memorial service held at the Oudewater gravesite of the Lancaster Seven, in May 1945 (see below).
Note the tribute being paid by members of the Dutch Resistance, signified by their white arm-bands. They are bearing weapons, a couple of which appear to be Sten guns. The flowers they are laying appear to be tulips. Note the wooden crosses, which the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has replaced by the stone markers we see today. Note the hedges, which still exist today, as does the church spire to the rear.
The photographic record of WW2 held in these archives can be freely viewed on the official Woerden Archives website, but not downloaded.
However you may purchase for a small fee (for non-commercial purposes), a digital image by ordering it directly from Woerden Archives. For those who want the contact details please send me a personal email.

I will gladly send my own images to anybody who wants them ; I have digitally enhanced the original Woerden scans for improved clarity and definition.


Other Interesting Stuff :

I cannot recommend Mr Theo Pollemans highly enough, but bear in mind he is a « senior citizen » with a private life! That said, he is accessible by email or phone, and is ready to answer queries. I can provide his contact details.

Mr Pollemans has a wealth of fascinating stories and anecdotes, some of which still have me spell-bound.

For example, he documents in his booklets the story of a young man from Oudewater who in the « Hungry Winter » of 1944-45 was one of the many starving Dutch civilians who left the town in search of food in the north of Holland. Unfortunately his vehicle was straffed by an allied aircraft and he was killed. His wife died just 3 months ago. Then there were the young men killed by RAF bombers (our « friends » as Mr Pollemans still calls them) while they were working as conscripted labourers in German factories.

He also writes about an additional RAF crash, this one on 25 June 1943, on the western outskirts of Oudewater. Three bodies were recovered. They however, are not buried here but in the nearby city of Utrecht. For the record, their names are :

James Bailey, aged 26, bomb aimer, from Shipley in Yorkshire
Stanley Gaskin, aged 30, air gunner, from Heaton Merseyside in Lancashire
John Orr, aged 20, radio operator, from Northern Ireland


War Memorial Service in Oudewater on 4 May 2013 :
This year at 8pm in the evening of Dutch Remembrance Day, 4 May 2013, the annual memorial service for those locals killed during WW2 will be held in Oudewater.

Mr Polemans states that for the first time this year – at the direction of the new mayor – there will be an official wreath-laying ceremony for the Lancaster Seven. This will be a new addition to the usual ceremony held at the War Memorial statue.
He adds that there will be a choir and speeches (one by him too I believe). Since the road which runs between the two adjacent cemeteries is so narrow, it will be closed as usual to vehicle traffic on this night.

Where to stay in Oudewater : there is one advertised hotel, the Hotel Abrona, which offers excellent facilities for a reasonable price. The rooms are all new, with onsuite shower & toilet, tv etc. Email : hotel.abrona@abrona.nl or phone +31-348-567466. Buffet breakfast included in price.
The tourist office is literally 5 minutes walk away from the Abrona. The walk time to Barbara Mary Weg is just 10 minutes and the cemeteries are no more than 15 minutes from the Abrona.
There are a couple of bed & breakfasts on the outskirts of Oudewater: see the official Oudewater website (goto Wikipedia Oudewater, scroll down to « Official website », open this and select the English-language option, and all visit details are there).

How to get there : Oudewater is easily reached from Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Utrecht by intercity train and then local bus. For example, Rotterdam to Gouda take the intercity train (18 minutes), then Gouda to Oudewater, take the 107 bus (23 mins).

I trust there is something of fresh interest for all Forum followers of this thread. I


cheers, Terence

 

Chaps,

Here are the photos to go with my thread above: two of Barbara Mary Lane, two from the Woerden Archives showing the 1945 commemoration ceremony, and another of mine from 10 April 2013 showing the Oudewater War Memorail statue

cheers Terence

 

Hi Terrence,

This is very good stuff you posted. As you can see at the beginning of this thread, the area where the plane crashed was all agriculture only two years ago. You can see in your second picture that even not all the plots are sold and all houses are built. But it is great to see that they named one of these new streets after the bomber.

The photos of the 1945 commemoration are incredible. The men with the white arm-bands must have been members of the 'Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten' (Home Forces).

Again, well done!

 

Terence,

Fantastic report about your visit. I have forwarded the photos of the 1945 ceremony to Norman Tutt's Sister.

I am so pleased I started this thread. It has produced so much rewarding information for the families of those who fell.

Kind regards - Rob.

 

On the 4th May 2013 (Remembrance Day in the Netherlands), Terence and myself, attended a ceremony at Oudewater in the Netherlands, held to remember the war dead of the town and 7 airmen buried in the Protestant Ceremony. Terence was there for Arthur Miles White, a relative and I was representing the Sister of Norman Tutt, the Flight Engineer.

Much to our surprise, we were to be collected from our Hotel by Theo Pollemans, a local historian, and invited to attend a service of remembrance held in St. Franciscuskerk prior to the main gathering. Terence was asked to give a small speech about the life of Arthur Miles White and Pilot of the Allied aircraft shot down in April 1943.

Following a beautiful service, the congregation gathered outside in order to walk the short distance to the memorials to the fallen. and we were invited to walk behind the Town’s Burgemeester, Pieter Verhove. The bell of St. Franciscuskerk rang in the background as we solemnly proceeded. Looking behind us, a long procession were following us. Looking ahead, a number of people were already waiting ahead. It looked as though a large number had turned out to honour the fallen. A choir was singing at the cemetery gates awaiting our arrival, with the Dutch flag hanging at half mast.

We arrived and waited until 8pm whereupon J.W. van Wijngaarden announced that the last post was to be played, followed by 2 minutes silence. The Dutch National Anthem was sung. Afterwards, a young lady sang a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace and the Dutch flag was raised to full mast. The Burgemeester gave a short speech and wreaths and flowers were laid at the memorials.

To the sound of solemn music played by a band, Terence and I followed the main dignitaries and crossed to the Protestant Cemetery on the opposite side of the road, where the 7 airmen lay at rest. We laid our own flowers to Arthur & Norman and solitary red roses to the other crew. Amazingly, everyone who came to the ceremony filed past the 7 headstones and it took about 20 minutes before the last person passed us by.

It was an incredibly emotional thing to have experienced and an honour to have been there. After everyone had gone, Terence and I looked at the various memorials in order to take photos. We then returned to the church where a choir and organist were playing some beautiful music. A very relaxing and peaceful way to end the day.

Some photos:-

Terence's speech in the RC church.



Approaching the memorials behind the Burgemeester, Pieter Verhove.



Procession following behind us.



Photo from 1945 ceremony



Choir & Honour Guard



Last Post



Mr Verhove gives a short speech.



Mr Verhove lays a wreath



A Dutch Veteran lays a wreath



A short speech by Mr van Wijngaarden



Amazing Grace



Terence laying flowers to Arthur Miles White



Me laying flowers to Norman Tutt



A few quiet words shared



Police salute to the fallen



1945 Salutes to the fallen





People of Oudewater queuing to pay their respects.