Commonwealth War Graves Protestant Cemetery Opeinde

The Protestant Cemetery in Opeinde contains three Commonwealth War Graves. All dated 27-7-1942.
These are the graves of:

Sergeant (Flt. Engr.) Joseph John Cooper, 778188, RAF, age 21
Sergeant (W.Op./Air Gnr.) Maurice John Dembrey, RAF, age 26
Squadron Leader (Pilot) Francis Harold Robertson DFC, 42264, RAF, age 27

On July 26, 1942 at 2330 departed from Coningsby air base, the Lancaster R5748, with the mission: a bombing raid over the city of Hamburg in Germany. The aircraft was shot down over Friesland by the German night fighter Lt.. Lothar Linke, 11./NJG1, after that it crashed in Opeinde at 0205. In the crash, four crew members got killed, three of them are buried in this cemetery, the other victim was never recovered. The three remaining crew members were taken prisoner of war by the Germans.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar.nl
• Photos: Bert Deelman (1), Klaas Graansma (2, 3, 4, 5)
• CHORLEY, W.R., RAF Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, 1942, Ian Allan Publishing, 1998.
• MIDDLEBROOK, M. & EVERITT, C., The Bomber Command War Diaries, Midland Publishing, 2011.