大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Lin Freeman of Radio Derby CSV on behalf of Mrs Elizabeth Innes-Smith and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Sitting in the cinema one summer afternoon we were alarmed to hear a plane going over very low, engine spluttering and clearly in trouble. We thought it was going to hit us. When we came out people were saying a German Dornier bomber had crashed at Seasalter, a little way up the coast from Whitstable. Being curious, I got on my bike and instead of going home rode off to have a look. It was low tide and far away across the mud I could see a crashed plane. Two ambulance men were walking towards the shore carrying a German airman on a stretcher. I waited near the ambulance and when they arrived and put the stretcher down I realised he was dead. His body was covered with a blanket but it had slipped a little and uncovered one of his hands. I鈥檒l never forget how the pathos of that young man鈥檚 hand affected me and my overwhelming feeling of sadness that someone who loved him had lost him.

As they slid him into the ambulance one of the men noticed what beautiful quality leather flying boots he was wearing. 鈥淐or, look at this,鈥� he said taking hold of a foot and shaking it. 鈥淔ine pair of boots鈥�.
鈥淒on鈥檛 do that, don鈥檛 do that鈥� I wanted to scream. It was sacrilege.

The wreckage of the Dornier stayed under the sea half buried in the mud but visible and visit able when the tide went out for decades.

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