Memorial Halifax JB-907 - Valkenburg, Netherlands
Posted by: 
naj16
N 50° 51.548 E 005° 50.881
31U E 700432 N 5638025
On the night of Tuesday, June 29th, 1943 at 1:25 pm in a field near Castle Schaloen in Valkenburg a Halifax II bomber from the 78th Squadron of the Royal Air Force crashed down.
Waymark Code: WMPJJ7
Location: Limburg, Netherlands
Date Posted: 09/08/2015
Views: 21
The four-engine plane had taken off from the RAF airbase in Breighton and returned from a bombardment of the city of Cologne. It was probably shot down by a night fighter of the German Luftwaffe. In this crash all the allied crew, which consisted of seven young airmen, were killed.
They were all buried in the Commonwealth plot in the General Cemetery in Maastricht.
On June 29, 2013, exactly seventy years after the event, a monument to their memory was unveiled during a simple ceremony. It consists of a granite pillar, which overlooks the crash site, with the names of these seven died airmen.
Sergeant "Air Gunner" Frank Hill, Royal Air Force (UK), 19 years;
Sergeant "Flight Engineer" Leslie Howarth, Royal Air Force (UK);
Sergeant "Navigator" Gwilym John Samuel, Royal Air Force (UK), 23 years;
Sergeant "Navigator / Bomber" Cecil Andrew Morris, Royal Air Force (UK), 20 years;
Sergeant "Wireless Operator / Air Gunner" Theodore Ivan Lishman Dagg, Royal Air Force (UK);
Flight Sergeant "Air Gunner" William Russell Townsend, Royal Canadian Air Force, 26 years;
Flight Sergeant William Patrick James Rendle, Royal Australian Air Force for 22 years.
Text at the memorial:
Aan de overkant van het water
het leven voor ons gelaten
29 Juni 1943
(across the water
lost their lives for us)
Memorial: granite column at granite baseplate placed at the border of the river.
Date of Dedication: 06/29/2013
Property Permission: Public
Commemoration: crew of JB907
Access instructions: Not listed
Access times: Not listed
Website for Waymark: Not listed
Location of waymark: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions:
Include a photo containing, at minimum, the monument and your GPSr. We'd prefer a photo containing YOU at the monument, but we understand that some people are camera-shy.
Also include a bit about your visit here.