Commonwealth War Graves Assesse

Assesse Communal Cemetery contains the graves of five airmen of the Second World War.
These are the graves of:

RAF, died 18-11-1943:
Sergeant (Nav.) James Lawrence Brent, 1612568, age 21
Sergeant (Air Bomber) Ronald William Fontaine, 1334913, age unknown
Sergeant (Flt. Engr.) Harry Herbert Stagg, 1332705, age 29
Sergeant Frank Thomas, 1048366, age unknown
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Stanley Philip Iltid Thomas, 156310, age unknown.

On 18 November 1943 at 17:24 departed from RAF Foulsham, the Lancaster DS784 with the mission: a bombing raid on the cities of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen in Germany. This mission served as a diversion for a bigger attack on Berlin. The aircraft was part of a formation of 395 aircraft including 248 Halifaxes, 114 Stirlings and 33 Lancasters. For unknown reasons, DS784 crashed down in Assesse. In the crash, five of the seven crew members were killed, they are all buried in this cemetery. One crew member managed to evade and one was taken prisoner of war by the Germans. In total 23 aircraft were lost during this mission.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar.nl
• Photos: Luc van Waeyenberge (1, 2, 3), Marie-Christine Vinck (4, 5)
• CHORLEY, W.R., RAF Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, 1943, Midland Publishing, Hinckley, 2007.
• MIDDLEBROOK, M. & EVERITT, C., The Bomber Command War Diaries, Midland Publishing, 2011.

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