Memorial John C. Younge Melle

In the street named after him in Melle there is a memorial for Flight Lieutenant John C. Younge. The monument, approximately 1.20 m high and made of Balegem stone, was unveiled on September 4, 1994. At the top hangs a metal plate with the image of the pilot, a world map and an English text, below which is the Dutch translation.

"This memorial is dedicated to the memory of
John Campbell Younge who gave his life
during the liberation of Melle, 6 September 1944.
His legacy is a free Belgium
and the friendship that was formed between the
people of Melle, Belgium; Camrose, Alberta, Canada and
Saint-Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A."

During the Liberation Days of 1944, on September 6, the Spitfire IX MK419 of the 414th Squadron, manned by the Canadian fighter pilot John Campbell Younge, took off from an airfield in Northern France for a reconnaissance flight over Dunkirk, Bruges and Ghent. Close to the Heusden Bridge, the aircraft shot at an enemy ship on the Scheldt. Hit by German anti-aircraft fire, the Spitfire crashed in a field at the Pypaert farm. The pilot died instantly.
He was initially buried in a war cemetery on the Brusselsesteenweg in Melle. In 1946 the remains were transferred to the Canadian military cemetery in Adegem.
(Source: Nuus)

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