A visit to some who didn't come back....

Left Amsterdam around 09:30 and on my way to Soest. On the way, visiting Reichswald Forest War Cemetery near Kleve and Rheinberg War Cemetery between Rheinberg and Kamp Lintfort. as these contain the graves of some of the crews of 617.
19 lancasters were sent on the raid, and 8 didn't make it back. Of the 56 crew in these aircraft, 53 were killed and 3 became prisoners of war. As for what happened to the other crews after the raid, a lot of them were killed later in the war.

Out of Gibsons crew, P/O Torger Taerum; Bomb Aimer, P/O Frederick Spafford; Wireless Operator, Flt Lt Robert Hutchison; and Front Gunner, Flt Sgt George Deering were all killed on 16 September 1943 flying a 617 Sqn Lancaster on a raid on the Dortmund-Ems Canal. Rear Gunner, Flt Lt Richard Trevor-Roper was killed on 31 March 1944 flying in a 97 Sqn Lancaster on a raid on Nuremburg. He is buried in Durnbach War Cemetery. Flight Engineer, Sgt John Pulford, was killed in an aircraft accident on 13 February 1944 and is buried in Hull.



P/O Taerum & P/O Spafford in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery



Flt Lt Robert Hutchison, second from right here, P/O T A Meikle, and Sgt D J D Powell who also died in same crash as Taerum and Spafford.
Behind them, some of the 7594 others at Reichswald, almost 4000 of them RAF from between 1940 & 1944. As you enter the cemetery, air force on the left and to the right are soldiers belonging to other sections of the armed forces. Most of those lost their lives during the battles in February and in Operations ‘Plunder’ and ‘Varsity’ at the end of March 1945. 

The road from Kleve down to the War cemetery. A nice balmy 3c!!

On the way from Reichswald to Rheinberg I'm going close to what was RAF Laarbruch near Weeze. Its now a civilian airport, but most of all the RAF buildings are still there. The personal interest is that I lived at Laarbruch in the 70's and it was a chance for a trip down memory lane. I went to school in Hamm (an army boarding school - Windsor Boys), which isn't too far from where I am at the moment in Soest.

The Astra cinema is the building on the right.The building behind the missile is now a museum, but was closed. 

This is the closest I could get to the old married quarters where I lived. There was fences and gates on the roads saying it was now a training area for the polizei!!

After 'all our yesterdays' it was on to Rheinberg War Cemetery. The purpose of this was to visit the graves of the crew  'M'- Mother which was the second Lancaster to attack the Mohne Dam.

Lancaster AJ-M (‘M for Mother’), piloted by Flight Lieutenant John ‘Hoppy’ Hopgood, was the second aircraft to attack. Flying at tree top height to avoid enemy radar, an hour from the Dam, AJ-M was caught in a searchlight and raked by gunfire. Burcher, the rear gunner was hit in the groin and stomach, Minchin, the wireless operator was wounded in the leg and the front gunner Gregory, was either killed or seriously wounded and could not be raised on the intercom. Hopgood was also wounded in the head. On reaching the target Gibson made his bombing run with his bomb exploding as planned against the Dam wall. With the defenders of the Dam now fully alerted, AJ-M made its bomb run as John Fraser the bomb aimer recalled, "Gibson got away with it because he had the element of surprise. They (the guns in the towers) crossed up on us and the light flak battery came in on the side. We had to fly through the middle of it. I released the bomb. We were put on fire in the starboard wing. The one engine came on fire immediately.” Released slightly late, AJ-M’s Upkeep bounced over the top of the Dam and exploded on the far side. With his aircraft ablaze, Hopgood fought to gain the altitude that would allow his crew to bail out, but unable to do so and knowing that they had only seconds remaining, at 500ft Hopgood ordered his crew to abandon the aircraft.

Realizing that there was little chance of their parachutes opening in time, Fraser and Burcher opened them inside the aircraft and jumped, and although Burcher broke his back when he struck the aircraft’s tail plane, both men survived. Unable to help himself, the wounded wireless operator Minchin was pushed out by Burcher but, as was feared, his parachute was unable to open and save him. Immediately after this the blazing starboard wing collapsed and the Lancaster crashed to earth killing Hopgood and those who remained on-board.
Puts it all in perspective, especially when you consider Hopgood was just 21 years old.

Crew of 'M' Mother, right to left; Sgt Minchin, Flt Lt Hopgood, F/O Gregory, F/O Earnshaw, Sgt Brennan.
P/O Fraser & P/O Burcher survived as POW.

 Then spent the remainder of the day on the autobahns travelling to Soest. Wanted to get there before it got dark and colder, hence the autobahns and manged to get to the hotel for just after 15:00 thanks to 140Km/h plus, giving some time to have a bit of a walk around.

 

Staying here - right in town.