Commonwealth War Graves Communal Cemetery Dodewaard

At the Communal Cemetery in Dodewaard are four Commonwealth War Graves.
There are two graves of unidentified victims.
The other two graves are from:

Flight Sergeant Alfred John Burns, RAAF, 424711, 17-06-1944, age 21
Flight Sergeant Patrick Edward Thomas Tiernan, RAAF, 426711, 17-06-1944, age 29

On 16 June 1944 at 23:26 departed from RAF Full Sutton, the Halifax MZ715 with the mission: a bombing raid on a synthetic oil plant in Sterkrade in the Ruhr. The aircraft was part of a formation of 321 bombers, including 147 Lancasters, 162 Halifaxes and 12 Mosquitos. For unknown reasons, MZ715 exploded in mid-air and crashed down at the Bonegraafseweg between Ochten en Dodewaard. In the crash, six of the seven crew members got killed. Two are buried at this cemetery and four are buried in the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Uden. One crew member survived the crash, he was taken prisoner of war. The raid was unsuccessful, only a few bombs exploded near the plant. The damage was minimal and production at the plant suffered very minimal. In total, 31 bombers were lost, a great loss, partly caused by a heavy attack by Luftwaffe fighters that were stationed in the area.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar.nl
• Photos: Arjan Vrieze
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• MIDDLEBROOK, M. & EVERITT, C., The Bomber Command War Diaries, Midland Publishing, 2011.
• W.R. CHORLEY, RAF Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, 1944, Ian Allan Publishing, 1997.