大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Ian Ellis on behalf of Greg Drozdz, David Guyett, Remco Immerzeel, Albert Nuttall and Andrew White. The stories and pictures have been added to the site with their permission. The authors fully understand the site's terms and conditions.

For more of the stories aboutThe Lancaster Crash at Rebr茅chien please see the following parts:

The Lancaster Crash at Rebr茅chien - Chapter 1 - A4342826
The Lancaster Crash at Rebr茅chien - Chapter 2 - A4356038
The Lancaster Crash at Rebr茅chien - Chapter 3 - A4369377
The Lancaster Crash at Rebr茅chien - Chapter 4 - A4369395
The Lancaster Crash at Rebr茅chien - Chapter 5 - A4369403
The Lancaster Crash at Rebr茅chien - Chapter 6 - A4459197
Comments from researching the Lancaster Crash at Rebr茅chien - A4214693
ABC Lancaster Crash at Rebrechien 28/29 July 1944 - A2607626

This story written as a 60-page commemorative brochure is meant to be a tribute to these eight heroes, for we want them never to be forgotten. Since 1944, the people of Rebr茅chien have always shown respect to the airmen, but the 60th anniversary shall remain engraved in our memories as having been something special. It is distinctive, for after 60 years the living relatives and descendants of the airmen will have the opportunity to meet for the first time and we can imagine the emotion of such an encounter. Unforgettable because this meeting has been made possible through an international collaboration between Rebr茅chien and the family members who will come here from as far away as Argentina, Canada, the United States of America, Spain and of course England. The preparation of this commemoration was also a great opportunity to create emotional ties with the elder people from Rebr茅chien who are our living memory. This event is therefore all the more precious, for some of these eye witnesses, brothers and sisters of the airmen, will be still be among us, many visiting the grave of their loved one for the first time.
We could not have accomplished this enriching and poignant task as a tribute to the fallen without the encouragement, gratitude and support we encountered along the way. What started out to be a small inauguration at the crash site, has turned into quite a formidable event, this with the progressive addition of a religious ceremony, a tribute at the cemetery, an exhibition and of course the compilation and publication of this brochure.

The Ties That Bind Us

For those who say that the Entente 鈥� Cordiale, between Britain and France, is just a romantic notion of yesteryear, they will need to think again. It is a vibrant reality, proved to be alive and well and living in the French village of Rebrechien, during the 60th anniversary commemoration service for the crew held on 28th July 2004.

Why Rebrechien? After all it is a village like so many others. Its 1500 inhabitants either work in the nearby centres of Orleans and Pithiviers or else they are of the older generation content with the pace of village life. Yet there exists a remarkable energy in the village for remembrance and homage to the crew of a Lancaster bomber who crashed in the village on the night of 28th July 1944 and whose grave is lovingly tended by the villagers to this very day, in continuing acts of hallowed veneration.

The party included the Chairman of the Hinckley Branch of the RAF Association, Mr Paul Savage and the branch鈥檚 Secretary and Standard-bearer, Mr Ben Ellis with their wives, and Greg Drozdz a local researcher who had worked to trace the family of John Moore. Also travelling to Rebr茅chien was Stephen Ellis the brother of Wolf Engelhardt, the plane鈥檚 ABC Special Radio Operator accompanied by his wife, two sons and grandson. David Guyett the nephew of Thomas Crane, the Lancaster鈥檚 bomb aimer traveled with his wife and young son to bring his mother and her brother to remember. From Canada came Albert Guyett to honour his uncle Albert Turri, the rear-gunner with his two daughters, Michelle and Carole. From northern Spain the niece of Peter Hyland, Moira came with her husband and two children. Although unable to come from Australia, we carried messages on behalf of Valerie White the sister of Eric Brown the mid-upper gunner and her son Andrew White. We had been unable to trace any family of Clifford Smith the navigator, or John Hodgson the flight engineer.

Programme for the Commemoration Ceremony of July 28th 2004
3pm: The families of the airmen meet at the town hall (private)
4pm: Religious ceremony at Notre-Dame de Rebr茅chien
5pm: Tribute to the airmen at the grave in the cemetery
6pm: Inauguration of the memorial stone at the crash site
7pm: Exhibition at the reception hall
8.30pm: Dinner for the airmen families, friends and organisers

None of us were prepared for the wonderful reception we received. The villagers could not have been friendlier to what were after all complete strangers. We were all housed with families in the village who had volunteered to offer accommodation to us. Nothing was too much to make our stay memorable and enjoyable. We were accorded a central part in the village鈥檚 commemorations. A private reception with the lady Mayor of Rebrechien was followed by a bi-lingual service of worship in the 13th century church. The Standard of the Hinckley branch of RAFA had pride of place, leading a long line of standards from various French veteran organisations. Photos of the crewmembers were laid at the altar and the parish priest invited relatives and representatives to light a single candle for each of the casualties. The Church choir had learnt the words of 鈥淎mazing Grace鈥� which was sung in English to the accompaniment of two bagpipers, the distinctive sound of which filled a hushed church to the eaves. The Hinckley standard then led a procession of 500 people to the village cemetery. There amongst all the marble and ironwork, stood a grave with four of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstones, each one carrying two names. Due to the fact that one of the crew members was Jewish, the Kaddish prayer for the Dead was intoned by the Rabbi of Orleans and members of his synagogue. In a faltering but determined voice, the brother of this casualty read part of the prayers, supported by his family. In the Jewish tradition, stones were laid on the grave to show that people had visited. This was followed by a number of wreaths.

One was placed by the man who was first to arrive from the village at the crash site all those years ago. He was accompanied by the daughter of the man who arranged for the quick and discreet burial of the remains of the crew. After all, it had to be done under the watchful gaze of the German troops, present in the village. The families placed their own wreaths and said a private prayer. The Chairman of the Hinckley branch of the RAFA placed a wreath on the grave and alongside him a Wing Commander from the staff of the British Embassy in Paris placed a wreath on behalf of the government. A minute鈥檚 silence was ended with the exhortation: 鈥淭hey shall not grow old, as we who are left grow old鈥�. The sun beat down relentlessly as the crowd moved to the other side of the village, to the very crash site itself. There by the roadside, a memorial stone was unveiled in another moving cemetery. The National Anthems of the UK, Canada and France were played as villagers mixed with important civic dignitaries, the media and visitors. This was the very essence of it. Due to a catastrophic tragedy, that was not the first or last of its kind, we had been brought together at a remote French roadside, miles from home but amongst friends, who it seemed we had known for years. The death of John Moore, a son of the Hinckley soil and his comrades, was the umbilical cord binding us together.

The commemorations were not over. We retired to the village hall for an exhibition of relics from the crash site. Twisted bits of metal brought home the severity of the sacrifice. Nothing but metal could have survived such a crash. A conviction began to take hold. In studying the last moments of the Lancaster and its known flight path over the village from eyewitness accounts it seems to me that there was a last act of bravery by the crew.

They were shot down on the bomb run out to Stuttgart that night, sixty years ago. They had a full bomb load and petrol tanks still full. It appears to me and it is just my opinion, that given the geography of the crash site in relation to the village at the time, that the plane avoided crashing in the village by being flown down in flames by the pilot to fields outside the village. I have heard this kind of story many times and wonder if it is true in this case. The more I think about it the more convinced I am that it did happen this way.

The families and the representatives were each presented with bits of the wreckage and earth from the crash site to take home. We were each given a free copy of a large brochure that had been produced bringing together the memories of the older villagers and details about the crew of the Lancaster and the search for the relatives. The village authorities then paid for a meal for us at a local restaurant where we further cemented the friendships formed earlier, in a convivial and relaxed atmosphere. The one solemn moment came at 11.30pm, the exact moment of the sixtieth anniversary of the crash, when we paused for a moment in silence to remember the ultimate sacrifice made by those young men.

We can be proud that because of the efforts of a group of people we have never met, in an obscure but friendly village, that a son of our town is revered in the place where he met his death. We did not ask them to go to the lengths they have done, they did it because they have a deep and immovable sense of gratitude to one of our kith and kin. We owe Rebrechien a perpetual debt for what they have done and for the way they have done it not just in the last few days but also for every day of the last 60 years. We never know they were doing it but we are moved that they have.

What about the young air crew that perished? They died so that we enjoy the freedoms that we do today: for freedom of association, freedom of speech and freedom of choice.

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