MAULUSMUHLE. LUXEMBOURG. Two years ago in 2012, we discovered the story of a plane crash like no other and decided to try to discover the place where it happened. After visiting the American War Cemetery in Luxembourg David and I set out determined to find the crash site. To say it was difficult is an understatement as we were travelling in a two door sports Mercedes not fit for off roading. Drawing nearer to the area where we knew the plane had come down, we had our reservations about reaching it as we faced a dirt track through a forest, but we carried on very cautiously. It seemed like an age but all of a sudden a clearing in our sight and knew we had come across the place we were seeking and it really made an impact. Back in 1945 on the 21st March a Lockheed Hudson plane was on a special mission to drop S.O.E agents into Germany when it was shot down and burst into flames, crashing to the ground killing all on board except the pilot Lt Terence (or Anthony) Heifer who used the only parachute to bale from the Hudson. Here in the clearing is the scattered remains of the plane where it crashed and its occupants were buried in a collective grave beside their plane. This was done at the request of the local people and each year poppy wreaths are laid by people who make their way through the forest to honour the men who died and now lie in this isolated spot. Those who died were Flt Off Henry Scurr Johnson, Squadron161 navigator, from Co. Durham...Flt Lt. Raymond Frankish Escreet DFM from Yorkshire... Flt Off Forrest Harold Thompson DFM from New Zealand but married to a girl from Bedford in England...Lt Jean Morel of the S.O.E X section...Lt L de Winter and Lt C. Corbisier, the last three coming from Belgium. The site is now protected by a tall metal fence to prevent souvenir hunters desecrating the gravesite. We spent quite a while here in the silence of the woods paying our respects to those who lie beside their plane. I must say it was one of the more unusual places we had been and really brought home the horrors of the 2nd WW as well as bringing it closer to those who died.
Posted on: Tue, 13 May 2014 20:09:36 +0000
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