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On the night of D-Day, 6th June 1944, 578 Squadron were briefed to attack the railway marshalling yards at Chateaudun, to hamper German reinforcements trying to get to Normandy.

The raid was successful, with the loss of just one Halifax and it’s crew of seven. The aircraft was piloted by my Great Uncle, Flight Sergeant Arthur Alfred Waller (1337807) and this is his story.

Like most young men of the era, Arthur left school at 14. He trained as an oxy-acetelyne welder. According to my father, he always had a passion for aircraft, and hence volunteered for the RAF in early 1941. Living in London and being exposed to the tensions of the Blitz likely gave him extra motivation to ‘do his bit’.

training

After nearly a year of ‘square bashing’ and training in the ways of the RAF at various depots around the country, he was sent for pilot training in March 1942 at 2 ITW in Cambridge, probably initially on Tiger Moth and then Miles Magister aircraft. At the time, the RAF”s priority was bomber pilots, as Bomber Command was in the throes of massive expansion, and hence in September 1942 he was posted to Canada for training on multi-engined aircraft – probably initially Avro Ansons, and then Airspeed Oxfords . The big four-engined machines wouldn’t feature until his return to England, and HCU.

He was awarded his coveted ‘wings’ on 30th April 1943, which would have been a proud moment for any young man, and his service record shows his character as ‘very good’ and his flying proficiency as ‘satisfactory’. Just one of thousands of young men that were deemed responsible and competent enough to fly a 30-ton heavy bomber with 6 other men under their care.

It’s unclear from his service record when he returned from Canada, but he was with 1531 BAT flight at RAF Cranage, on Airspeed Oxfords, in August 1943. ‘Beam Approach’ training was vital for bomber pilots who, having learnt to fly. and land, in the wide open spaces and clear skies of Canada, would soon have to do it for real in the rather more congested, and bad weather prone, skies of Western Europe.

Further training followed at 11(P)AFU at RAF Wheaton Aston, again on Airspeed Oxfords. Pilots such as Arthur, who had come through the Empire Training Scheme, received refresher and night training on Airspeed Oxford aircraft at Wheaton Aston before being posted out to an Operational Training Unit

He was posted to 10 OTU at RAF Abingdon on 28th September 1943, and it was here that he would have ‘crewed up’ with 5 of the 6 other men who shared his eventual fate in June 1944. The process of how RAF bomber crews got together has been explained elsewhere, so I won’t go into that. Unusually for this stage of the war, the all-NCO crew that settled together were all English, and from a variety of backgrounds. They were:

• Sgt. Robert Brough, navigator (before enlisting, a policeman) service no. 1544100, and mistakenly shown as ‘Air Bomber’ in CWGC records and gravestone
• Sgt. Owen Sisley, bomb aimer, aged 30, married, from Islington, London, service no 1398598
• Sgt. Stanley Moss, wireless operator, aged 21, married, from Peckham Rye, London, service number 1449858
• Sgt. James Taylor, mid upper gunner, aged 34, married, from Sheffield service no 2211923
• Sgt. David Taylor, rear gunner, aged 19, from Hanwell, Middlesex service no 1892039

For the next 5 months, the crew set about learning to work as a team, and learning how to (hopefully) survive. Bomber Command’s losses in the Autumn/Winter of 1943/44 were at a height, so the thought of surviving once you’d got to grips with the enemy, or vice versa, might have seemed a distant prospect. However, one always felt it was the other fella who’d get the chop..

However, night flying around Southern England in the clapped-out Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys that 10 OTU used was dangerous enough for the time being. As Whitley’s didn’t have a mid-upper turret, it’s likely that the gunners swapped between the front and rear turrets on an ad-hoc basis, although by the time they got onto ops, the 19 year old David Taylor was the rear gunner.

Operations

On 27th April 1944, the complete crew were deemed ready for operations, and posted to 578 Squadron, flying Halifax III’s at RAF Burn, near Selby. Also arriving that day were another new crew, that of Pilot Officer Geoff Sanders, who were rather luckier and survived their tour.

578 Squadron hadn’t existed long, and didn’t have a rich tradition, but under the leadership of Wing Cdr David Wilkerson had become a formidably efficient unit by April 1944. Indeed, the only Halifax VC was won (albeit posthumously) by Sgt Cyril Barton after the disastrous Nuremberg raid at the end of March 1944. By all accounts 578 seems to have been a happy squadron, with good morale.

By the end of April 1944, Bomber Command had largely switched from the costly and very dangerous deep-penetration raids into Germany to attacking infrastructure targets in France, Belgium and Holland in preparation for the upcoming invasion. Not easy by any means, but a fair bit less dangerous than going to Berlin…

The crew were given 3 days to settle in (578’s ORB states 3 unnamed crews undertook bombing practice on the 29th – it’s likely the Waller and Sanders crews were 2 of them, being new), before being among 24 crews detailed for ops on the night of the 30th. One can only imagine the mixture of excitement and fear on seeing your name, for the first time, on said roster.

Operation 1

The target was Acheres, 20km NW of Paris. The 578 ORB states 1 aircraft failed to take off, moderate visibility on the route out, fine and clear over France. Attack most successful, all captains reporting the Pathfinder markers were right on the spot, and may large explosions seen over target, with very little opposition from flak or fighters. All aircraft carried 11500lb’s of bombs, and all returned to base safely.

The Waller crew took LK-D MZ617 (shot down by night fighter 21st July 1944 – target Bottrop – all crew KIA) to Acheres, taking off at 21:39, bombing at 00:01 from 14000ft, and landing at 02:44.

Operation 2

There was little time to rest, as the next night, 1st May 1944, 578 sent 16 Halifaxes to the rail yards at Malines, in Belgium. Not a successful raid by all accounts – bad ground haze over the target, and PFF marking scattered. All crews returned safely

The crew took LK-H LK834 (lost in a mid-air collision with another 578 Halifax over Farnsfield returning from Bottrop 21st July 1944 with both crews being killed, details of their memorial here) to Malines, taking off at 22:05, bombing at 23:49, and landing at 02:22. Their debriefing reported ‘ only 2 fires seen, Master Bomber almost useless’.

Operation 3

578’s next op was a week later, on the 8th. The ORB states that, in the interim, on the 2nd the crews were treated to a lecture by W/Cdr Hamish Mahaddie DSO DFC of 8 Group on PFF techniques, on the 3rd crews flew Fighter Affiliation, on the 5th bombing practice, and on the 7th the crews were paraded in front of the AOC 4 Group, which would have meant some smartening up! But on the night of the 8th, 578 sent 16 aircraft to ‘enemy defences’ at Berneval, on the coast near Dieppe. It seems to have been a successful raid, in bright mooonlight, and with good marking. and no opposition.

The crew again took LK-H LK834 to Berneval, taking off at 21:37, bombing from 8500ft, and landing at 01:15. They were probably quite pleased with themselves as their debrief states; ‘stick of bombs seen bursting just to right of markers, followed by more bursts right among the markers’.

Operation 4

Once again, little rest, as the next night, 9th May, 578 sent 13 aircraft to attack a coastal gun battery at Morsalines, on the Normandy coast. Again the raid was deemed successful, and all aircraft returned.

This time, the Waller crew took LK-E LK934 (something wrong here with the records, as LK934 is listed as being lost over Belgium with 425 Squadron the same night, so probably the trusty LK834 again), taking off at 01:37, bombing from 9300ft and landing at 05:29.

Operation 5

The crew wern’t detailed for the 578 raid on Lens on the 10th May, but were back on the board for the 11th May, when 578 sent 17 aircraft to Trouville, again on the Normandy coast. Not a very succesful raid – winds 70 degrees out causing them to be late over the target so markers gone, poor visibility, scattered bombing, some light flak but no losses.

The Waller crew were again in LK-H LK834 for this one, taking off at 22:38, bombing late at 00:56, and landing at 02:56. Operation 5 completed.

The crew then appear to have been stood down for an extended period, (likely on well-earned leave after 5 ops, and the above photo of Arthur was taken during this period – he certainly came home to Tottenham, as my Father, then nearly 14, clearly remembered trying on his flying jacket) and hence missed the raids on Orleans, Boulogne, and Aachen, but were back on ops for Bourg Leopold in Belgium on the 27th. This proved to be a rather more eventful trip to the previous 5 relatively straightforward ones.

Operation 6

578 sent 23 aircraft to attack the German military camp at Bourg Leopold on the night of the 27th/28th. The raid was a success, with good marking and bomb concentration, but was far more heavily defended by flak and night fighters than any other raid the crew had taken part in. 2 of 578’s Halifaxes were in combat with the Nachtjagd, and both sustained damage – LK-O LW496 was attached by a Dornier 217 with the wireless op’s position being hit, and the wireless op injured, and LK-Z LW474 which was attacked whilst on it’s bomb run, which caused the port inner engine to catch fire. Both aircraft returned, but all aircraft were diverted away from Burn to other airfields due to bad weather.

This time, the crew took LK-J MZ560 (which appears to have survived the war) on this op, taking off from Burn at 00:16, bombing at 02:15, and landing at Silverstone at 04:32. In debriefing they commented that the Master Bomber was very clear, and that their bombs were seen to burst near the target markers. Presumably they flew back to Burn from Silverstone the next morning, when the weather had cleared.

Operation 7

578 didn’t operate again until 31st May, when they sent 23 Halifaxes to attack Trappes, just to the West of Paris. They battled through thunderstorms and 10/10ths cloud over England both out and back, but the weather over the target was fine and clear. The bombing seems to have been a success.

Again the crew took LK-J MZ560, taking off at 22:01, bombing at 00:35, and landing at Burn at 03:21. Apart from the weather, this appears to have been an uneventful trip for them.

Amazingly, in May 1944 578 Squadron only suffered 1 casualty, the wireless op Sgt Costidell, on the Bourg Leopold raid, who was wounded.

Operation 8

On the night of June 1st/2nd, 578 sent 16 aircraft to attack the bunker complex at Haringzelles, on the coast between Boulogne and Calais. This operation wasn’t a success due to 10/10ths cloud over the target, and 4 crews (the Waller crew among them) decided not to bomb, for fear of hitting civilian targets.

Again the crew took LK-J MZ560, this time with ‘special equipment’ fitted – Monica tail warning radar, and API? (possibly aiming point indicator – if so it didn’t do them any favours this time). It seems most 578 aircraft had just had Monica fitted, although unbeknownst to the crews it was worse than useless as the enemy had already developed Flensburg, a passive detector that homed in on Monica emissions. It was removed in July 1944 when a captured Ju88 gave up it’s secrets.

The crew took off at 23:41 and reported that 10/10th’ s cloud over the target prevented them from identifying the target and aiming by anything other than guesswork, and jettisoned all but 2 1000lb bombs which presumably ‘hung up’ It must have been a nervous, delicate landing back at Burn at 03:08, but they got away with it.

Operation 9

The crew didn’t fly on the Boulogne trip on the 4th, but in the early hours of D-day, the 6th June, 578 sent 22 aircraft to hit the gun battery at Mont Fleury, which overlooked the British and Canadian beaches that would be invaded at dawn.

The weather was cloudy over Southern England, and over the Channel, and over the target was in two layers. Eighteen 578 Halifaxes, at the lower level, ‘successfully bombed the target’ according to the ORB, between 04:37 and 04:44, just as dawn was breaking. However 3 aircraft flying at a greater height, including the Waller crew, jettisoned their bombs in the sea as they couldn’t see the target, or any markers, through the cloud. 578 suffered a severe loss on this op, as Sqn Ldr Watson, one of the flight commanders, and 3 of his crew were killed when their Halifax was hit by falling bombs from another aircraft. at 04:37

The Waller crew took Lk-H LK809 (which was a very long lived airframe and seems to have survived the war) on this one, taking off at 02:41 on their penultimate trip. They stated in debrief that ‘no markers were seen and target not attacked’, with the bomb load jettisoned at 4:46, landing back at base 07:21. Although not explicitly stated in the ORB, as the return time was rather greater than the time to target, I suspect the crew, along with their fellow airmen, took a bit of time out to throttle back and gaze in wonder, at the sight of the largest armada the world has ever seen, approaching the beaches. It must have been something to see, and no doubt they were in a particularly buoyant mood when they landed back at Burn for the last time.

Operation 10

Naturally, this was a period of ‘maximum effort’ in support of the invasion, but no doubt all 27 of the 578 crews were raring to go when they were briefed just a few hours later, in the early evening of June 6th, for a raid on the marshalling yards at Chateaudun, around 120km South of the invasion beaches. 2 aircraft became unserviceable, but the other 25 took off between 23:14 and 23:51, formed up, and set course in 10/10ths cloud due South. It was strictly forbidden (for obvious reasons) for crews to fly over London, so they tended to deviate slightly to the West, which would have brought them over my home in Henley-on-Thames, before crossing the Channel at Selsey Bill. For one 578 crew, this would be their last sight of the English coast. . The cloud had dispersed by the time they passed over Henley, according to the ORB, and visibility was good.

Arthur and crew took off from Burn at 23:46, (so one of the last to get away, and so presumably one of the last over target) in what appears to have been a new aircraft, LK-H_, MZ619, (of which more later) , and set course for Chateaudun, with 16 x 500lb GP bombs in the bay.

The squadron ORB states; ‘aircraft bombed the target between 02:03 and 02:16 hrs at between 6600ft and 11300ft. Weather good, opposition negligible’ – something of an understatement perhaps, in one case at least. ‘Master Bombers instructions clearly heard. Bombing well concentrated and visual obtained of target area. No combats, but 3 crews reported seeing an unidentified twin engined aircraft, and one single engined, in the target area. The operation was considered a great success’.

But at least 20 civilians paid the ultimate price.

The squadron ORB goes on to say ‘ 24 aircraft returned to land at base. Halifax III MZ619 LK H Captain Sgt A A Waller failed to return from this operation’ and ‘nothing heard from this crew after leaving base’.

All 7 crew were posted as ‘missing’, (they wouldn’t actually be declared dead until 1946), and telegrams with the terse ‘missing on operations over enemy territory’ would have gone out to next of kin, including to 95 Tewkesbury Road. Doubtless my great grandparents clung forlornly to the hope that their son had survived and been taken prisoner.

As it happened, Arthur died not knowing that he’d been promoted to Flight Sergeant in May 1944, as the notification didn’t come through until July 1944.

They would have received his personal effects a short while later. Sadly their pain wasn’t over, as in February 1945 a V2 rocket exploded on impact just to the North East of their house, damaging it and most of the other houses at the eastern end of Tewkesbury Road beyond economic repair. As a consequence most of the houses were demolished and blocks of flats now stand in their place.

My father, at 14, was devastated at the loss of his ‘big brother’ and joined the RAF in 1948.

Thomas and Ada retired to a bungalow in Canvey Island and lived there for the rest of their lives. But in the great storm surge of 1953 their bungalow was badly damaged (my father, who was an excellent swimmer, had to rescue them from their roof) and sadly what little keepsakes they had of Arthur were lost in the flood.

Some notes on LK-H_, MZ619

MZ619 seems to have been a ‘new’ aircraft (at least to 578 squadron) as it doesn’t appear in any squadron records before it’s one and only trip on the night of the 6th/7th June. It was built as a standard Halifax III by English Electric in Preston between Feb and March 1944.

The ORB states ‘no special equipment carried’ which, as all the other 24 578 squadron Halifaxes that flew that night were fitted with both Monica and API, would indicate that it arrived on squadron too soon before the ‘maximum effort’ to be so fitted, which seems to bear out the theory that it was new.

MZ619 was actually coded LK-H (with a _, or bar, under the H) although most if not all records miss out the bar. Presumably there was more than 26 aircraft on 578’s strength at the time.

On first joining a squadron, crews tended to be given older, hack aircraft to fly, until they’d proved themselves capable , or at least managed to get back in one piece at least 5 to 6 times. Obviously thereafter, for reasons of unserviceability, battle damage, or crew leave, some crews still chopped and changed aircraft, but generally speaking, once a crew had reached a certain level, and survived, they would thereafter fly a ‘regular’ aircraft, often one freshly delivered from a Maintenance Unit. The Waller crew had reached said level. so it’s possible that MZ619 would have become ‘their’ Halifax thereafter, had they come back from Chateaudun.

However, their remains lie in a collective grave in the CWGC section at Villeneuve St Georges cemetery, just under the takeoff flypath from Orly airport, some 100km North East of Chateaudun, just outside Paris. Why there? We’ll come to that. Meanwhile here are photos of the gravestones, taken June 2024

tracking down records, finding the crash site etc.

As I grew up, I developed an insatiable thirst for everything to do with the wartime RAF, doubtless helped along by my father regaling me with tales of his Uncle, trying on his flying jacket etc. I have 2 hazy childhood memories: a) visiting the graves above sometime in the mid 1970’s with my parents, whilst on holiday in France, and b) driving with my parents (possibly the same holiday) past Chateaudun airfield on the road to Orleans, with my father saying ‘Arthur’s plane went down somewhere around here’. But we knew no more than that, and the official records state ’cause of loss not known’. Pre-internet, such research was very difficult.

I always kept it in the back of my mind to do something about it, and my father’s death in 2006, after a long illness, only intensified that feeling, but life, a growing family, and a demanding job rather put paid to that for nearly 20 years.

The official records, whilst stating ’cause of loss not established’, did at least give some clue as to where the Halifax fell, saying ‘crashed 150m from level crossing between Jallans, and Lutz-en-Dunois’.

Jallans is a small community just to the South East of Chateaudun, and just north of Chateaudun airfield, which was an important German night fighter base at the time, and far bigger than it is now. So I had a starting point.

In summer 2022, my wife and I were touring in France, and I realised our route would take us near Chateaudun. So we decided to see what we could find. Unfortunately, there are two level crossings (from the now-disused railway that ran from Chateaudun to supply the airfield) and, 78 years on, there were no obvious signs of a 30-ton heavy bomber having crashed near either location.

When we got home, I decided the only way was to enlist some local help. Through the power of social media, I put a request in to Christophe of GNR 3945, who co-ordinates all sorts of historical works on WW2 military sites in France, and he put me in touch with Michel Leroueil, an aviation enthusiast based near Chateaudun, who, it turns out, had researched the crash sites of several, mainly allied, aircraft crash sites in the area, including MZ619. Over many phone calls and emails, and some brushing up of my French, iI established that Michel knew roughly where MZ619 had crashed, and indeed had some small parts of it in his extensive collection.

In August 2023 (we chose then as the crash field had just been ploughed – Michel knows about these things being a retired farmer) my son and I went back to Jallans and met with Michel and his family, and enjoyed wonderful hospitality from them. We visited the enormous field (with the landowner’s express permission) where Michel said MZ619 fell, and, using the guide of ‘150m from the level crossing’ we found several small fragments on the surface, including molten aluminium (indicative of a huge fire), .303 cartridges, both fired and ‘cooked off’, scorched perspex, small sections of airframe, and some components with the Air Ministry crown on them. Below are some pictures of that visit, and some of the parts found on the surface.

However, it’s such a huge field, we weren’t convinced we had found the actual impact point. Then, I remembered a conversation I’d had just before we left England, with a friend who, at the time, was the Station Commander at RAF Benson, who’d mentioned they had a massive archive of wartime aerial photos, Benson being the then headquarters of the PRU. Reasoning that a) the RAF would have overflown the area before the raid, and b) the USAAF would have done the same afterwards, in preparation for their attacks on Chateaudun airfield before they liberated the area in August 1944. we thought there might be a chance, and we struck gold via the National Centre for Aerial Photography website

Below are two pictures, the first taken by the RAF on 5th June, showing the field intact and with an even surface. The second, taken by the USAAF on 26th August at a lower altitude, clearly shows the wreck of MZ619 to the right of the picture. The actual impact point was some 600m East of the point the records suggested. If you expand the second photo, you can clearly see the tail section broken away from the rest of the wreckage in the bottom right of the debris field.

The straight line is the now-disused railway from Chateaudun, and the curved line visible in the second photo but barely so in the first, is it’s branch line to the airfield. The line that snakes slightly after the level crossing is now the D927 road. In 1944, the road formed the northern boundary of Chateaudun airfield.

What caused MZ619 to crash?

The short answer is, we’re not 100% sure, but the clues we have point to a direct flak hit, probably to either a wing or the cockpit area,, and likely in the 30 seconds after bomb release, when the Halifax would have had to fly straight and level, so the crew got their prized bombing photo.

Michel thought it was quite likely that one of the older residents of Jallans may still have a memory of the crash, and after making enquiries locally he discovered an elderly gentleman, M. Yves Bordier, who inherited his house overlooking the crash site from his late parents, with whom he lived as an 8 year old boy in 1944.

M. Bordier’s memory is still very sharp as regards the wreckage, but he also recounted his late father’s memories of that night, as follows:

My father went outside our house to watch the bombing of Chateaudun station. He felt quite safe as we were 5km away. Searchlights were trying to find the bombers, but had little success. Then suddenly, they found one, and the German guns started firing at it – it looked like a moth pinned under light. My father shouted “they got one!”

Suddenly the plane tipped over to the left, towards Jallans, and started to spin, making a terrible screaming noise. He knew it was going to crash, and hoped it wouldn’t hit our house! But no, it smashed into the field with a massive bang and a big fire..

He went on to tell us

My father went out early the next morning to take a look. The plane had made a big hole in the ground, and there was sheet metal everywhere. The only part he was able to recognise as aircraft was the tail, which had snapped off and was on the edge of the crater

M. Bordier told us a few other things that his father saw that morning that he never forgot, but to preserve dignity for the crew, I’ll keep that to myself.

He went on to say that the wreckage remained in the field for at least 6 months, before the Americans cleared it away and filled in the crater, and in the meantime made an excellent playground for him and his friends, especially the tail section, once the Germans had removed the crew’s remains.

Whilst most of the 578 crews that night reported little opposition, 3 of the 24 did note both heavy and light flak in the target area. As MZ619 was caught by searchlights, it’s reasonable to assume they were hit by flak immediately afterwards.

However, on checking German records, no claims were made by either night fighters or flak around Chateaudun that night.

That it tipped quickly into a spin would indicate that either a wing, two engines on the same wing, the cockpit, or the controls had been seriously damaged. But the possibility must remain open, as no claim was made, that Arthur became dazzled and disoriented by the searchlights, and simply lost control of MZ619.

Whilst they seem to have been flying at sufficient height for at least someone to escape by parachute (the Halifax had a much better survivability rate than the Lancaster in this situation, due to its more capacious fuselage and better sited escape hatches), the centrifugal force from a spin would have precluded an escape for any of the crew.

I’d surmise that they had at least dropped their bombs on the target, as 8000lb of bombs still aboard would have caused a big enough explosion on impact to completely obliterate the aircraft, and the crew. The 578 Halifax that dived into Carpenters Wood near Maidenhead just over a month later, with a full bomb load, bears this out. The rear gunner parachuted to safety, but the other six crew are officially ‘missing’ to this day, as the explosion was so violent that no trace of them has ever been found.

Aftermath

The Germans recovered what remains they could, and buried them beside the D927. So why did they end up being interred just outside Paris?

I wrote to the Air Historical Branch in Feb 23 for some background, and got this back:

So we know the where, but not the why. But it doesn’t really matter. Villeneuve St Georges New Cemetery is very impressive, and some of the crypts and monuments therein are quite spectacular in their own way. Both the public and the small CWGC sections (15 servicemen in all) are beautifully kept. And at least the crew are all together, and have known graves, unlike the thousands of airmen listed on the Runnymede Memorial.

The idea of a memorial

The thought of a memorial to the crew had always been at the back of my mind, but after Michel took my son and I to see another one east of Chateaudun, we agreed to try and get one organised, in time for the 80th anniversary of the crash.

To be honest, I thought this was going to be far harder, especially given the time constraints, than it turned out to be. That it was very straightforward is all down to the mayor of Jallans, M. Olivier Lecomte, and his team at the Mairie. Once I’d written to him, and Michel met with him and his team, they became very heavily invested in the idea, the financing (they allocated the funds for the memorial) and the associated work) and it’s execution. Whilst Michel and I had the idea and the motivation, that would have been nothing without M. Lecomte’s organisation, and I can’t thank him and his team enough.

It was serendipitous that the Mairie was looking for something to act as the village’s focus around the debarquement commemorations for June 2024, and few people thereabouts knew about the crashed bomber. That has now changed.

I submitted a design for the memorial to M. Lecomte and his team, and after a couple of meetings between him and Michel to make some tweaks, and to arrange a suitable site, things progressed really smoothly, with M. Lecomte’s influence to cut through the inevitable red tape.

As the crash site itself isn’t publicly accessible and is a fully operational privately owned potato field, it was agreed that the memorial should be erected on council-owned land in the lower left quadrant of the level crossing, so very visible from the road, and some landscaping and grading carried out.

As June 2024 crept ever closer, France as a whole was gearing up for their 80th anniversary debarquement celebrations, and the media got involved. French TV interviewed Michel Leroueil, Yves Bordier, and came to England to interview me for a TV broadcast about our endeavours, which was broadcast 31st May 2024. The YouTube video of that broadcast is here

Everything was ready: I’d practiced the speech I was due to give at the memorial unveiling ( I was determined to do it in French) and my wife and I set off for Chateaudun on the 2nd June, stopping for a while in Normandy to get a flavour of the commemorations taking place around the beaches.

On June 6th, my wife and I were guests of the excellent Historial 279 museum, at Chateaudun airfield, which is well worth a visit. They have plenty of wartime artefacts there, including the Gee receiver box purportedly from MZ619, as shown below

The memorial unveiled

The ceremony was set for 6pm on 7th June, 80 years to the day since MZ619 crashed. The Marie at Jallans organised everything, including two pipers, the local veteran’s association, speeches by myself and M. Lecomte around a wreath laying ceremony and the unveiling, a bugler to play the Last Post, a band to play the national anthems of the UK and France, and some children to do a reading.

But first, in the early morning, Michel and I went to the memorial site to erect the flagpoles and flags ready for the ceremony, and I also wanted to walk to the crash site to pay my respects. This is me at the impact point, 80 years to the day, with Jallans in the background.

Once again, with some careful looking, a few more pieces came to light, including a harness buckle

For the ceremony itself, luckily we had fantastic weather, and it seems the entire village turned out. It was a wonderful thing to be part of, and the regional press, in the form of Mlle Julie Guillaud, wrote and photographed an excellent article for L’Echo Republicain, the regional newspaper, which is reproduced below

Below is the gallery of photos that were taken at the ceremony. I certainly won’t forget it, and I reiterate my thanks to the people of Jallans, that made us so welcome. Also Michel Leroueil and Oliver Lecomte, without whom this wouldn’t have been possible. I was especially pleased to meet Norman Casson, the great nephew of MZ619’s flight engineer, George Armstrong, who I found through the Ancestry website. He and I are in the first photo

The memorial wording is shown below. I hope you’ll agree that a great job was done by all. We can’t give the crew their lives back, but we can ensure their loss is remembered by future generations.