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Re: Dodenherdenking and an educational watch [message #16557 is a reply to message #16556] Wed, 04 May 2022 20:07 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Jenneke is currently offline  Jenneke
Messages: 2042
Registered: May 2013
Location: Netherlands
Gruen Authority
The first info I got was that the watch belonged to one of the airplane crew from a crashed plane in Tongeren (near Epe in the Netherlands). It was received from 1 of them as a thank you after the crash.

A search for a crashed aircraft in the correct period let us conclude it must be the one on location 14. On June 13, 1944 the aircraft Lancaster Mk III LM581 A-X was shot down by a night-fighter from the German Luftwaffe. The pilot was T.W. Boyce from New Zealand. It took a while before the fire brigade found it in the dark woods.
/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=9295&private=0

A present would be crazy, there were no survivors from this plane… Confirmed by several police reports. There is a greater chance this watch has been “found” shining in the night and taken opportunistically. The finder was a person in hiding (“onderduiker”) who had been detained at the police station, but had to help the police recover the bodies.
/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=9296&private=0

It is impossible to say for sure who this pocket watch belonged to. Not the pilot though. His wristwatch turned up after the war. It was turned in to a mayor along with a shadowy tale of a chopped of wrist. The most logical owner is het navigator Andrew Burgess Leonard who used a pocket watch when navigating in the dark.
/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=9297&private=0

What did I learn (or was really a shock)… The amount of planes that didn’t make it. Average flying time for a crew was 1 month. The age of these brave men, or should I say boys, all 20 - 25 years. Volunteers from countries where the war didn’t take part. That makes me quiet.

You can only waste time if you forget to enjoy it - Loesje

[Updated on: Wed, 04 May 2022 20:12]

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