Aircraft Down: Landings, Crash Landings and Rescues by Brew Alec

Author:Brew, Alec [Brew, Alec]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781783460298
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2005-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

45. The graves of Jack Owen’s crew in Vire cemetery, just after the War.

When they reached the area of the drop they could see no lights. Jack handed over control to Thornton and went back into the fuselage to try and see the ground better. As they circled at low altitude looking for the lights, Jack suddenly realised that they were much too low. He called over the intercom for Thornton to get the nose up, but it was too late. The Whitley crashed into high ground. Only Sergeant Avery in the rear turret survived the crash, and he was made a prisoner of war.

The other four crew members were buried in the local town cemetery at Vire, with simple wooden crosses. A number of Germans were buried in a line behind them. After the War the Germans were moved but Jack Owen and his crew remained where they were, in graves carefully looked after by the people of Vire, who they had come to help all those years before. The crosses were replaced by standard RAF gravestones, and Jack Owen’s reads:

1166741 Flight Sergeant J Owen, Pilot, Royal Air Force

26th July 1942, Age 21

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