French War Grave Roman Catholic Churchyard Swartbroek

The Commonwealth field of honour on the churchyard of Swartbroek contains one French war burial. It is the Frenchman C.P. Rognant who served in the Royal Air Force.

On February 7th 1945 at 1857 departed from Elvington airfield in England the Halifax NA260 of the Royal Air Force with a mission to bomb German troops and vehicles near Goch (Germany). The Halifax was shot by a German night-fighter and crashed down at 22.20 in Nederweert, Limburg province. Of the fully French crew only one survived the crash, it was C. Stanislas, he managed to land safely with his parachute straight into the hands of allies. Of the remaining crew members four have been buried at Eindhoven Woensel, these four were later reburied in France. One victim is buried at the French War Cemetery in Kapelle in Zeeland (The Netherlands) and one in the cemetery of Swartbroek. Remarkably is that till April 2010 the wrong date of death has been on the grave, March while it was in February. In April 2010, the old almost unreadable aluminum nameplate (picture 4) was replaced by a bronze plate and in the same time the date of death was adjusted.

These were the other crew members:
Adc J.M.G.Aulens
Sgc R.G.Patry
Cne G.Stanislas
Slt C.P.M.Rognant
Slt H.A.Berdeaux
Sgt M.J.A.Bordier
Sgt R.V.E.Bordelais

Text on the tombstone:
ROGNANT C.P.
S/LT
MORT POUR LA FRANCE
LE 7.3.1945