Commonwealth War Graves Protestant Cemetery Ten Boer

On Ten Boer Protestant Cemetery are the graves of six airmen. They were part of the crew of Handley Page Halifax HR864 from No. 405 Squadron (Royal Canadian Air Force). It was part of a attack wave of 705 bombers, who were aiming to attack the Krupp works in Essen in the night of 25-26 July 1943. The crew loading list was as follows:

Warrant Officer Clas II Clifford Kettley (Can, 23)
Flying Officer Marcel Tomczak (Can, 23)
Flying Officer Alexander McCracken (Can, 21)
Sergeant Albert Wood (Br.)
Flying Officer Alexander Sochowski (Can.)
Pilot Officer Michael Smyth (Can, 25)
Flight Sergeant Edward White (Can, 21)

The aircraft was intercepted by a German night fighter and shot down. The night fighter of 3/NJG-3 was flown by Oberleutnant Paul Zorner. The Halifax crashed 12 kilometres north-east of Groningen. Six crew members were killed in the crash. They are buried in Ten Boer. A seventh crew member, Flying Officer Sochowski survived the crash and was taken prisoner of war.

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Source

• Text: Pieter Schlebaum
• Photos: Klaas Graansma (1), Fedor de Vries (2, 3)