Why "1943"?
This new cross was secretly made by three workmen from the “Regiewerken” (management control) at the coalmine of Winterslag. It's the same model as the crosses on the graves of Russian prisoners of war. One should not forget that the country was still occupied by nazi Germany and that it wasn’t easy to transport such a concrete cross. And yet, on a dark autumn evening in 1943, between 22:00 and 23:00 p.m., the new cross was firmly placed as a lasting memory. Mr. and Mrs. François BEELEN - he was chief of the Regiewerken” at Winterslag coalmine, and Mr. Pierre REIS, an office clerk at the same mine, and his wife were the people who had the courage to perform such an act.
Even during the war, Miss Daisy GIELEN (working in the printing office in Winterslag) wrote to the Belgian Red Cross to call attention to this event and to try to know the names of the fallen airmen. And she succeeded! After the liberation, she kept in touch with her contact persons and received the relatives at the graves. A mother of one of the fallen airmen took heather sprigs back to England with the comment: "SPRIGS OF HEATHER FED BY THE BLOOD OF MY BOY".
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ASHTON, Pilot Offr. (Pilot) JOHN FREDERICK, 67051. R.A.F. (V.R.). 101 Sqdn. 1st September, 1941. Age 22. Son of Edgar Arthur and Frances Mary Ashton; husband of Dora Ashton (born Weiss), of Tunstall, Kent. Coll. grave 11. LANE, Sgt. (ObS.) ERNEST RAYMOND VERDUN, 1152881.R.A.F. (V.R.). 101 Sqdn. 1st September, 1941. Age 25. Son of Ernest Harry and Frances Clara Lane, of Slough, Buckinghamshirc. Coll. grave 11. REDDEN, Sgt. (W. Op./Air Gnr.) JOHN BERNARD, R/65221. R.C.A.F. 101 (R.A.F.) Sqdn. 1st September, 1941. Age 20. Son of Bernard Morton Redden and Ellen Beatrice Redden. Coll. grave 11. |
ASHTON, Pilot Officer, 22 years old, was married to Dora Weiss and lived in Turnstall, Kent (G.B.).
LANE, Observer, 25 years old was unmarried. He lived with his parents in Slough, Buckinghamshire (G.B.).
REDDEN, Wireless Operator - air gunner, 20 years old, was a Canadian who flew with a R.A.F.-Sqdn. In 1970 his mother lived in Middleton/Nova Scotia (Canada).
