Two hours after the take off, three crew members of the R. 1703 plane died on Genk soil, far from their families (Sunday August 31, at 22.15 h German time and September 1, at 00.15 GMT). They were shot by a German night fighter and not, as believed, by FLAK. (2)
The question will always remain whether the three airmen had been hurt or whether they had already been killed by bullets . It is a fact that thanks to the skills of the first pilot ASHTON, three members of the crew had been able to jump out of the plane with their parachutes.
The German Wehrmacht was quickly on the spot and kept guard. Already in the morning, three coffins were supplied to bury the three victims next to the wreck in the heather. After the fire and explosion little more than scattered debris remained of the bomber.
First the graves were lined with stones and other white stones formed a cross. Regularly, the graves were deliberately destroyed, mainly by members of the Hitler Jugend of Winterslag – Cité (another district of Genk). But there were always people, especially young ones, who restored the graves. And then, suddenly, there was a wooden cross ... We don’t know who had the courage to put it there. Almost all the inhabitants around have been interviewed, but everything points at two men of Polish origin and living in Winterslag; they were veterans of the Polish army, namely Joseph GLOWACHI and his brother-in law- Antoine PLOCINNIK. According to testimonials, the cross beam was in the shape of an airplane propeller and the wood was flamed by burning oil. Regularly, there were fresh flowers on the graves. We know who did it: it was Miss Jeanne DRIES who raided her home garden and the flower garden of Mrs. Leonie DECOSEMAECKER-THOELEN, a shopkeeper in the Winterslagstraat. The wooden cross was regularly taken away and thrown in the heather but suddenly there stood a concrete cross with the year term "1943" instead of the wooden cross which, once again, had disappeared.
