Commonwealth War Graves Oosterhout Protestant Cemetery

On Oosterhout Protestant Cemetery are 11 Commonwealth War Graves in two plots.

The first plot contains four crew members of a plane that crashed on 15/05/1940, the other plot are crew members who died on 20-12-1942.

An information board states the following about the 1940 events:

"On Tuesday 14 May 1940
An English Hampden bomber of the 44 Squadron of the RAF is shot down over Den Hout at 1:30 am. The plane comes down burning at the "Eind van de Hout". The four crew members are killed instantly and are buried by the Germans in the shoulder of a dirt road.

Behind the graves, the Germans set up the tailpiece and a machine gun of the aircraft. Later they were transferred to this cemetery.

The dead are:

Officer Crawley C.D. 24 years from Australia
Officer Ashfield L.J. 22 years from Australia
Corporal Preston F. 20 years from Australia
Sergeant McKinlay F.W. 23 years from Glasgow"

On 20-12-1942 at 20.29 pm the bomber, Lancaster ED347, crashed near Den Hout.
The seven crew members of the British Royal Air Force all died and are buried in the Protestant cemetery in Oosterhout. The seven victims are:

Flight Officer, Navigator, James William Lynes
Sergeant, Pilot, John William Tyreman
Sergeant, Flight Engineer, John Sykes
Sergeant, Bomb Aimer, Harold Burrows Stokes
Sergeant Air Gunner, George Clive Wing
Sergeant, Wireless Operator / Air Gunner, Harry George Ford
Sergeant Air Gunner, James Hill.

On 16-10-2014, the daughter of James Lynes, Liz Stewart-Lynes, placed a commemorative plaque at the grave of her father.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries & TracesOfWar
• Photos: Herma de Vries (1, 2), Bob van Vree (3, 4, 5)