Monument Crashed Airplanes in Boerdonk

Text on the monument:

During the Second World War, more than six thousand military aircraft crashed over the Netherlands. Four of these ended up on the territory of Boerdonk, three of which in the surrounding fields.
This memorial has been erected for the victims of the three aircraft, near the scene of the disaster ....
On the plaques you will find the names of those affected, crew members and passengers.

On February 26, 1943, at 21:34 near Boerdonk, a Vickers Wellington III bomber (Z1599) of the 426 Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force crashed along the Cruysstraat/Hondseind, about 200 meters from the farm of M. Pennings. The pilot was F/Sgt. Harold Rands (25), a Canadian.

He was killed in this crash, as were four other members of his crew: F/Sgt. William Wilson Cameron (27), radio operator and gunner, Canadian; Sgt. Richard Edward Dean (21), radio operator and gunner; Sgt. Robert Williams (31), gunner. These four are buried in Woensel, graves JJB 29-32. The fifth killed in action, another Canadian, was F/O John Philip Monckton (23), navigator and bombardier. He has been buried since 21-11-1945 in the Canadian cemetery of honor in Groesbeek, grave XVI F 12, after having had an earlier grave in Woensel. One crew member is said to have survived and taken prisoner of war by the Germans: flight engineer F/Sgt. HEY. Vey of the RCAF, who was the only one to land by parachute on the other side (west side) of the Zuid-Willemsvaart. He ended up at the farm of Marinus Penninx, where he was found by a person in hiding at that address. Vey was arrested by the police/Marechaussee from Beek en Donk and transferred to the POW camp Stalag VIII B/344 near Lamsdorf, where he was liberated on May 11, 1945.

On 17 June 1943 at 01:41 an Avro Lancaster III crashed again in Boerdonk, not far from the place where the Wellington had fallen in February. This bomber belonged to the 49 Squadron and was flown by F/Lt. C.W. Dunnett.
It was one of 202 bombers to attack Cologne that night.
The Lancaster ED497 of F/Lt. Charles William Dunnet (24) was shot by Hptm. Manfred Meurer in his night fighter of I./NJG 1. The crew consisted of Sgt. Reginald Frank Middlebrook (37), flight engineer; Sgt. Robert Gordon Smith (21), navigator; Sgt. Michael Frederick Haley (21), wireless operator/gunner; P/O Charles Arthur Edwards, air gunner; Sgt. William Arthur Dutton (24), bombardier; Sgt. Richard Montacute William Selby-Lowndes (20), gunner. The plane came down in Boerdonk near the farm of the Penninx family.
None of the crew survived this crash. It was their third operational flight. Their remains are buried in the war cemetery of Woensel. Dunnet lies in grave EE 69, the others more together in graves JJB 99-104. Dunnet's remains were not found until 11 days after the crash. He was therefore not buried until July 2. Smith lies in grave JJB 107.
On June 14, 2008, a memorial plaque with the names of the crew members was unveiled at Boerdonk.

On Saturday afternoon, September 23, 1944, a Waco CG-4A glider of the US Air Force had to make an emergency landing in Boerdonk. The aircraft was part of the last direct supply flights for the paratroopers of the 82nd US Airborne Division, which had landed near Groesbeek on 17 September as part of Operation Market Garden.
The glider with serial number 43-39695 of 440TCG/98TCS was hit by German flak over Schijndel. The glider pilot, F/O Herbert J. Wasson, uncoupled his glider from the tractor and made an emergency landing in Boerdonk, halfway between the Zuid-Willemsvaart/kanaaldijk and the Boerdonksedijk in a meadow belonging to H. Bekkers.
In Boerdonk, the glider pilot Wasson and four men were taken prisoner by the Germans. They were Private First Class David C. Bailey, Corporal Henning E. Lindgren, Corporal George W. Simon and Sergeant Delman Whitt.
Private Walter J. Linehan was later found dead in the plane with a bullet through the throat and head. He had probably already been hit by anti-aircraft fire during the flight. On the following Monday, members of the Erpse resistance buried him at the r.-k. graveyard. In July 1945 he and a number of other American soldiers were transferred to the temporary American cemetery in Wolfswinkel, Son and from there to the American cemetery in Margraten. In September 1948 he was reburied at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Philadelphia, U.S.A.

The last two infantrymen, Staff Sergeant Lois W. Melvin and Captain Shelby L. White were seriously wounded. The retreating German troops left the two behind at night in the farm of A. van de Berg on the canal dike (Antoniushoeve) in Boerdonk; this family had fled. The two were found there on Sunday morning by the neighbor Brans. Her husband Frans alerted a command post of the American paratroopers in Veghel via detours and from there the two were picked up by ambulance and taken to a first aid station/hospital; they were back in America after a short time.

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Source

• Text: STIWOT
• Photos: Martin Damen