Memorial Crash Lancaster ND745 A4-D

Text monument:
In preparation for the Normandy landings, Allied air raids were carried out. On the night of May 22-23, 1944, Dortmund was under fire. On the way back, the Lancaster ND745 A4-D of the 115th squadron was fired upon. With a bright glow and a heavy earthquake, the plane crashed at 01:39 a.m. near the cemetery of Zondereigen.

Three of the seven crew members were taken prisoner of war:
-Sgt. Ian Melrose Gillespie (Scottish radio operator)
- Sgt. Howard Eric Hedgecock (English navigator)
- Flight Off. Philip John Rupert Steele (Australian bomb aimer).

Four others died on the spot:
- Flight Off. John Halliday Ward (English commander/pilot, age 30)
- Sgt. John Altherstone Snowdon (English flight engineer, age 21)
- Flight Off. Reginald Ivor Havard Davies (English air gunner, 41 years)
- Sgt. Walter Joseph Fullum (Canadian air gunner, age 20)

They gave their lives for our freedom

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Source

• Text: Jhonny Bastiaensen
• Photos: Jhonny Bastiaensen
• Tekst monument