• Operation Chastise (Dambusters Raid)

Date of birth:

December 27th, 1920 (Dudley/Worcestershire, United Kingdom)

Date of death:

December 21st, 1943 (Belgium)

Buried on:

Commonwealth War Graves Gosselies
Row: 2. Grave: 12.

Service number:

1217692

Nationality:

British

Stephen Burns, born in Dudley, Worcestershire, on 27 December 1920, was the eldest of four children. His father, John, a steelworks laborer and Gordon Highlanders veteran, was recalled to serve in the Royal Engineers at the outbreak of World War II.

Though in a reserved occupation at an armaments factory, Burns volunteered for the RAF in 1941, first serving as ground crew before training as an air gunner. Posted to 57 Squadron in November 1942. He transferred to 617 Squadron later that month.

During the Dams Raid, Burns endured a drenching when AJ-H hit the sea, forcing him to smash the rear turret window to drain flooding water. During another operation his aircraft was shot down over Belgium. Burns and six others perished. They were buried in Gosselies Communal Cemetery.

After the war, Burns’s brother John visited his grave and received a pair of his gloves, preserved by local villagers as a keepsake for visiting relatives.

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• Photo 1: Findagrave
• - CWGC
  - Dambusters

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