Wellington R1397 - report from the Commemoration in Holland

As many of you will know I've been researching my uncle's RAF career and the disappearance of his plane Wellington x3757, along the other crew members.

I've recently been working with Douwe Drivjer of the Missing Airmen Memorial Foundation in Leeuwarden, North Holland on tracing the other crew members' families. His organisation trace families of crew that crash in the area and next Monday they are holding a Commemoration and Plaque unveiling for one crew that they have traced. And I've been invited!!!! Along with all the other family members. So Sunday am, at some ungodly hour I will be at Heathrow waiting to fly to Amsterdam, then a train journey up to Leeuwarden.

 

Forgot to say that there is a dinner in the evening as well so it should be great .

I asked Douwe what the dress code was for the dinner & the commemoration & he laughed. He said the English always asked what to wear, but he said I can wear what I like.

 

That's brilliant! You're an expert now

 

Have a nice journey, and put on something warm. The weather over here is not good.

 

It will be better next week Stolpi, well I hope so as holiday starts

 

Best of luck on your trip Nicola, I hope you enjoy the occasion and the company.

 

As many of you will know I've been researching my uncle's RAF career and the disappearance of his plane Wellington x3757, along the other crew members.

I've recently been working with Douwe Drivjer of the Missing Airmen Memorial Foundation in Leeuwarden, North Holland on tracing the other crew members' families. His organisation trace families of crew that crash in the area and next Monday they are holding a Commemoration and Plaque unveiling for one crew that they have traced. And I've been invited!!!! Along with all the other family members. So Sunday am, at some ungodly hour I will be at Heathrow waiting to fly to Amsterdam, then a train journey up to Leeuwarden.

Hi Nicola,

I maybe see you there in Boazum where the memorial service will be held. I will be there to represent the 103 Sqdn Assn and laying a wreath on behalf of the 103 Sqdn Assn and his members in memory of the crew of Wellington R1397.

Also I am researching the airwar over the S.E. part of Holland, especially Bomber Command crashes.

 

What a fantastic honour. Have a good trip and don't forget photos, please.

 

Nicola,

Well done, you! I hope/have no doubt that you enjoy the events!

Roxy

 

Best wishes, if its anything like the ones I have been honoured to attend, it will be memorable indeed.!!!

 

Have a great time ....... Leeuwarden airfield was home of some of the major NJG aces....... if there are any folks from Ameland in attendance look out for Gerlof and Rene (Metz)

 

Hi Nicola,

I maybe see you there in Boazum where the memorial service will be held. I will be there to represent the 103 Sqdn Assn and laying a wreath on behalf of the 103 Sqdn Assn and his members in memory of the crew of Wellington R1397.

Also I am researching the airwar over the S.E. part of Holland, especially Bomber Command crashes.

Hi Lanc I will keep my eyes open for you, it will be good to see another WW2talk person .

Thanks for everyone's good wishes. I'm honoured to be asked and am really looking forward to it. Thanks for reminding about photos, I'm trying to decide which camera to take, the point & shoot, or do I go the whole way & take the DSLR.

 

Just saw this Nicola.

Have a great time.

Cheers

Geoff

 

Hope you enjoy the event Nicola, don't get too drunk!
Look forward to seeing the photos (whatever camera you decide to take!).

 

Hello Nicola

Best Wishes to you for your trip into Holland.

I am sure you will be given a warm welcome by the Royal Air Force's friends in Holland.

You said at The Petwood that you had not seen the entry in Bill Chorley's Bomber Command Losses for the loss of your Uncle's Wellington.

Per Ardua Ad Astra

 

Well its been a fantastic day and I will update you more once I've got back to Blighty, but as a sneaky peak, here's a link to the coverage filmed by and shown on Friesan TV news: Omrop Fryslân > Nijs > Tinkpaniel foar WOII piloaten > Tinkpaniel foar WOII-piloaten

Nicola in Leeuwarden, Holland

EDIT: I'm the one in the flurescent pink raincoat desperately trying to take pics and keep the camera dry & the lens unrained on

 

It was in Kreitrep, near Boazum in Friesland.

 

The event started with a small gathering in the Eden Oranje Hotel in Leeuwarden. Members of the Stichting Missing Airmen Memorial Foundation held a small party for the family members of Mervyn Sydney Lund RNZAF (Pilot), Roy Williams, John Cox, Arthur Owen, Frank Walker and Alfred Le Poidevin. It was a chance for them to chat and get to know each other and find out a bit more about what had happened. People were able to share memorabilia with each other.

The editor of the Sunday Express was also there, as were the Friesland news team who interviewed both the Editor and family members. The Sunday Express will be running an article in either this Sunday's or the following Sunday's edition (I"m not sure which).

On Monday morning some families members visited the cemetery and at 12.30 we gathered in the Hotel Lounge to await the coach which was to take us to Boazum. Arriving in Boazum we waited for members of the Dutch Airforce, the British Defense Attache and also the NZ Ambassador for the Hague to arrive.

- Lund family members and fellow WW2 forum member Lancaster103 is the tall black haired gentleman on the right. He represented the 103 Sqdn Assoc.





Boazum was chosen by the Mayor of the area as it is only a short distance (as the crow flies) from Kreitrep, the actual crash site. Its a beautiful church. Coffee and cake was provided and people chatted and then we finally started the proceedings.



- Peter Lambourn talks to Paul Petersen from the Wreck recovery division of the Dutch Airforce, with a family member in the background





There were addresses by the Mayor, the Ambassador and Paul Petersen, the head of the wreck recovery division of the Dutch Air Force, who gave a talk about how they go about wreak recovery and recovery of this particular crash. Members of the Foundation then gave a presentation specifically about Wellington R1397.

- The Mayor

- The NZ Ambassador

- Alexander from SMAMF

- Douwe from SMAMF

We were then driven to Kreitrep, the site of the actual crash. It was a little crowded as the whole event took place on the narrow road on the edge of the field. The children from the local school have been working with the community on the commemorative panel and it was they who unveiled it. A bugler played the Last Post and there was a minute silence. Flowers were laid, by the NZ Ambassador, the Foundation and family members.

- Leaving Boazum church for the trip to Kreitrep



- The Four Flags: British, New Zealand, Dutch and Friesland

- The NZ Ambassador to the Hague talking to Peter Labourn, British Defence Attache

- The NZ Ambassador and Alex from SMAMF

- The NZ Ambassador and Peter Lambourn, British Defence attache

- The local children unveil the plaque (sorry about the big black arm on the left, some huge chap pushed in front and blocked my view)

 

- first view of the plaque

The plaque

- The plaque and the area where the crash happened

- Peter Lambourn lays his wreath next to that of the NZ Ambassador's

- The children pay their respects

- All the wreaths

Then family members were able to take photos of the plaque and have their photos taken by it. The whole event was covered by Friesland TV, with Babs Dore one of the Cox family members being interviewed.

Family members take photos

- Lund family members on the left and SMAMF members on the right L to R Douwe Drijver, Alex Tuinhout and Hans Groeneweg

We were then driven back to Boazum where a small reception was held and a booklet that head been created to educate children on what had happened was given out. Although it was in Dutch, they had also provided an insert with the plaque on one side and a translation of all the pages on the other. (I will scan and post this later)





Following the reception we were taken on a brief tour of the area and shown various sites relating to WW2. the first was the house of a Dutch famed who had hidden 3 Jewish children n his family (he had 5 children, so another 3 were fairly easy to hide). The Germans came repeatedly to his farm asking about jewish children, but despite a gun being held to his head, he flatly denied hiding anyone - at the time the children were hiding in the fields.

The 2nd venue was the site of a big Resistance success. It was a large 'town hall'. the Resistance broke in and locked all the civil servants into the vault. they then proceeded to steal over I think 16,000 blank identity papers.

The last venue was a War Grave site, where the locals congregate after a silent march, every year on 4th May which is their celebration of the end of the war and their relief at the hands of the Allies.







I forget which plane it was, but you can read the details on the plaque outside. Originally there were only 7 graves because there ware only 7 people listed as crew for that particular flight. However an 8th body was found and so the last (8th grave) is an unknown one as no one knows who else was in the plane. Its thought perhaps that they were on a secret mission of some sort, so wouldn't have been in the log.











We were then taken to another village where we were treated to a lovely 3 course meal. I sat with members of the Lund family, some of whom had flown in from New Zealand and others who had driven in from Belgium and from Sweden. I also met members of the Walker and Cox families.

For many years the fate of Wellington R1397 had been unknown, but then researchers began to suspect that this particular crash site was indeed that of R1397. There had been clerical errors in documents at the time, the date on the gave stones read the date of burial, not the date of death which further confused the issue. The Dutch Airforce became involved and items from the crash were checked and details found that tied it to R1397.

The case has been submitted to the CWGC/RAF to change the details on the actual gravestones.