Memorials to Allied Airmen in WWII

This page of the AFEES website will be devoted to memorials to Allied airmen killed in WWII.  The webmaster welcomes contributions of photos.   Because of the sheer number of such memorials, it will be necessary to limit the number of photos to one per memorial.  The photos will be in order by country.   A brief description of each memorial, including location, date of dedication (if known), and the best way to describe the memorial would be welcome.  The identifying information appears below the photo.  Please contact the webmaster if you have photos to submit.  If there are websites containing photos of memorials in a particular country, links to them will be shown first under the heading for that country.  This page was started in January 2017 and is under construction.

BELGIUM

Stambruges Children’s Research

The municipal school of Stambruges in the municipality of Beloeil has just inaugurated a fresco. It traces the story of the American airman Charles Carlson in the region during the Second World War. The fresco was made with children’s drawings following real research work by them.  The news story was broadcast on local TV news in Stambruges on May 13, 2021.

Collection of student drawings on the face of the school building:

Drawing of American airman Charles Carlson: Children giving class reports on their research: Stambruges children viewing class drawings of American airmen, B-17s, parachutes, etc.: To watch the Belgian television report on the Stambruges children, click here.

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Memorial Dedicated to the crew of the B-17F “Our Bay-Bee

Family members of crew and helpers stand at the memorial dedicated to the crew of the B-17F “Our Bay-Bee” which crashed at this location near “Lock 6” of the canal Antwerp-Luttich in the Mol/Dessel-Achterbos area of Belgium, August 17, 1943. For an article on the reunion by researcher Co de Swart click on the Mol 2018 AFEES Story below.  To view the page on Mr. de Swart’s website about the “Our-Bay-Bee”, click here.  For an August 2018 commemoration at the memorial, click on http://www.rtv.be/artikels/amerikaanse-nabestaanden-toegekomen-a58052.  For a German-language article on the commemoration, “Gedenkwochenende in Belgien,” which appeared in the German Luftwaffe Magazine ‘Gemeinschaft er Flieger” / Magazine ‘Flieger Blatt,’ 6/2018, click on the following pdf file: #18 Gedenkwochenende in Belgien-1.

Mol-2018-AFEES-Story-2-with-corrections (1)

To see the group photo and legend identifying the people in the photo from the Our Bay-Bee Memorial Service, Mol, Belgium, August 17, 2018 (all 10 crew members survived, 3 evaded, 7 captured), click on the following: Our Bay Bee Memorial Photo and Legend.  To see John White Jr.’s memorial in memory of his father, John White, click here.  To see a diagram of the positions of the crew the “Our Bay Bee” and photos of each member of the crew, click here.  To see the latest research of Dutch WWII historian Co de Swart, click here.

The memorial was dedicated the weekend of August 17, 2018.

Memorial at Aaigem, Belgium to the May 24, 1944 crash of B-24 “C for Charlie” and its crew, piloted by Henry Wolcott.  Standing at the memorial are the four children of navigator Carmen Vozzella of Boston.  Their father was able to evade capture thanks to the Belgian Resistance and got to the Marathon camps in the Belgian Ardennes until the Liberation in September 1944.  Our thanks to Dirk Vijverman for the photo.

FRANCE

To view a website containing photos of all WWII memorials in France as well as French memorials outside of France, click here.  For a good example of one such memorial, this one dedicated to the 8th Air Force airmen who served in WWII, click here.  The memorials displayed below are a sampling

Commune de Saint-Bazeille, James d’Amore, 5 March 1944.  Submitted by Jean Michel Dozier.

Submitted by Bernard Ballenger

Mc Kee Crew.  Submitted by Bernard Ballenger.

Equipage Crew. La Guérinière – île de Noirmoutier.  Submitted by Jean Michel Dozier.

B-17 42-29967. La Guérinière – île de Noirmoutier.  Submitted by Jean Michel Dozier.

Pilot Officer W.S.P. Griffiths, RAF.  Submitted by Jean Michel Dozier.

Bombardier John H. Roten.  On a house at Noirmoutier.  Photo by Jean Paul Brochard.  Submitted by Jean Michel Dozier.

En Souvenir des Victimes du B17-G “Georgia Rebel” Abattu le 28 Avril 1944 (submitted by Frederic Henoff):

 

For more information, see http://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/484657/french-village-memorializes-us-wwii-aircrew/.

Stubblefield, Monson, Coleman, and Thompson Memorial at Kermorou

War memorial at Kergrist Moëlou, Côtes d’ Armor in Brittany, France.  It carries the names of four airmen who died from two B17s that crashed nearby whilst returning from the same mission, to bomb the Bordeaux Merignac airfield on 5 January 1944.  42 31212 piloted by Glenn B Johnson and 42 30200 aka Slo Time Sally, pilot Ray Born. From 20 crew, four died, two were taken POW, and 14 evaded.  It was Ray Born’s humanity that led to him being captured by the Germans. He refused to abandon his injured co-pilot Erickson who was unable to bail out and decided to land the plane.  Both were taken prisoner and both survived the war. The plaque was added to the Monument aux Morts at Kergrist by Johnson’s co pilot Ralph K. Patton on one of his many trips back to France to thank those who helped him. Unfortunately somehow a wrong date was inscribed on the memorial, the mission was January 5, 1944.  Living nearby and with a family connection, (a grandmother who sheltered Glenn Johnson during his evasion), Yvonne Millar and Douglas Doig leave flowers to honour these heroes whenever possible on the anniversary.

NETHERLANDS

Memorial to the crew of the Lancaster bomber, serial number ND 357, which crashed some 100 meters to the right of this point on the night of 14/15 January 1944.  The entire crew was killed.  The members of the crew were W/Cdr N.R. Mansfield; Flt Lt C.R. Swinney; W/O C.H. Lawrence; F/Sgt V.N. Cawdery; S/Ldr E.S. Alexander; F/O G.W. Penrose; and P/O B.A. Trott.  The memorial was put in place thanks to the town of Niedorp, The Netherlands; Hoogheemraadschap Hollands Noorderkwartier, and the Stichting Aircraft Recovery Group 1940-1945.  See the plaque below.  Our thanks to Frans van Putten for the photos.

2 thoughts on “Memorials to Allied Airmen in WWII

    1. Unfortunately, I have no information on Charles E. Davis. There are a few references in AFEES’ indexes to either Charles L. Davis and Charles M. Davis but no Charles E. Davis. There was a reference to a Charles Davis, no middle initial, in Yugoslavia (AFEES newsletter of Sept. 1998, pg. 9O). There was no Charles E. Davis in the Member Database, only Charles L. and Charles M. And there was no Charles E. Davis in the main index to escape and evasion reports at the National Archives.

      Bruce Bolinger
      Webmaster

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