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65 Years On

Old Boy

Old Boy

master brummie
On June 22nd 1944 an RAF Lancaster bomber was shot down by a German night fighter near the village of Oene in Holland. My brother was a member of the crew.2 crew members were killed but 6 baled out by parachute. Of these 3 were soon captured, including my brother and became prisoners of war. The remaining 3 were found by the resistance and kept hidden. 2 finally made their way back to England but the flight engineer, poor Ken Ingram, was shopped and together with 6 members of the resistance and an American airman was executed without trial on 1st October 1944. A memorial was erected in their memory in the nearby town of Appeldoom.

The villagers always remembered this incident and on 22nd June 2009 exactly 65 years afterwards a memorial was unveiled in memory of the entire crew all of whom have now passed away, Together with my wife and daughter I accepted am invitation to attend this ceremony and it was most heart warming to realise and be told that the prople of Holland still remembered those who had taken part in their liberation. I am posting 4 photographs but if anyone cares to look at www.oene-info.nl they will find a complete photographic record.

Old Boy
 
Chris,
This was very interesting,hope your brother,on his return had a good and happy life.
Just a long shot,but,do you know the names of the other crew members?. My moms young brother Len Beard (more like my bro. than uncle) was shot down and returned via the underground,he actually came home on a weekend pass,with his foot in plaster(said he did it playing football) before he was reported missing,that's how fast they got him home.He would never speak of what happened.
He joined up at 17,was a flight sergt.rear gunner at 18 and a warrant officer at 19.he was later the only survivior of a lancaster ,shot down on a practise flight,he only told me this in recent times.
 
Hello Ray,

Yes. Arthur did have a good and happy life (apart from supporting Blues throughout). He passed away in 2002.

The crew were as follows:-

Sqd Leader T B Cole DFC Pilot POW
F/Sgt K H C Ingram F/Engineer Escaped but executed 1.10.1944
F/O J Craven DFC Navigator Escaoed. Got back to UK
F/O E J Blakemore W. Operator Escaped. Got back to UK
F/Sgt A G Beresford Bomb Aimer POW
Sgt P F J Hayes Rear Gunner POW
W/O J F Lane Reserve W Operator Killed in Action
F/Sgt F H Shorter Min Upper Airgunner Killed in Action

Chris Beresford (Old Boy)
 
Chris,
Thanks for the info.It pleases me Arthur had a well deserved happy life,we can forgive his poor taste in football teams.
"Our Len" aso had a happy and fulfilled life,(died 2005),his son is a chartered accountant,his daughter was on Birmingham City police force,later than you though,and one of his grandsons is now Redditch C.I.D.
Ray.
 
Thought it might be fitting to put this on your thread Chris,hope you dont mind.
"Our Len"..."A tail end Charlie"...

In 1925 he was born into poverty in the slums of Birmingham.In his youth he was a very good footballer,playing in the Birmingham senior league for Shamrock rovers,a highly rated team founded by a local Irish family.Despite being English Len and his brother in law Arthur,formed a formidable strike force winning many trophies in a side which had a team sheet comprising Beard,Baglin,Kelly,Kelly,Kelly,Kelly,Kelly,Kelly,Kelly,Kelly and O'shea.
At the end of his teens Len was a flight sergeant in the R.A.F,a rear gunner in Lancaster bombers flying sorties over war torn Europe.like so many of his generation he subsequently kept this period as a closed book.Just once,and this only recently,did he disclose an event,which he had kept to himself for 60 years.After a weekend pass,he returned to base to be told that his entire crew had been killed on a practice flight.Perhaps it was this event that gave him such a tenacious determination to hold on to every living moment.This will for life enabled him to overcome the worst effects of diabetes for over 50 years.After leaving the R.A.F he married Daisy and together they forged a life in the post war years.He was a self taught craftsman,who had an empathy for wood and earned his living with a firm of cabinet makers in Birmingham.His hobbies were also woodwork and building sheds,he had one for every season.He always knew he could fight his diabetes,he also knew he could not win.His resolve and cussedness,his determination and willpower were undiminished,but his body had decided enough was enough.He will be remembered for these attitudes and attributes,for his honesty and good nature for his determination and good humor.
If asked how he would want the lessons of his life seen he would no doubt give it serious thought and declare that.
You can't have too many hammers.
It was spoken at his funeral 2005.
 
Old Boy and Ray Barrett, two stories about very brave people who faced the worst years imaginable for the benefit of us at home, their Queen and their country. We should all, every one of us show our respect on rememberance day and schoolchildren should be taught the reason why we do this.
 
Jean, regarding my avatar I must say cutting my head off with the scissors is better than enduring my old undies. I am glad I took Rays advice.
 
Chris,

It was wonderful to read of a new commermoration taking place for an event that took place so long ago. Survivors of WW1 are now almost as rare as hens' teeth, and the youngest survivors of WW2 are now all in their 80s.

It's a reminder that all of you with photographs of former servicemen and women should ensure that the photographs are properly captioned and accompanied by as detailed a description of their exploits as you can put together, for the benefit of future generations.

The same rules, of course, apply to all ancestor's photographs. An album without captions is almost as much use to future generations as a chocolate teapot!

Maurice :cool:
 
Sospiri,

You are so right. I am sure that we all have photographs and wonder, "who is that"

Henry Allingham, the oldest man in England and I believe the last survivor of WW1 has just died (see the tributes on the Henry Allingham thread.)

The Dutch have a fine way of ensuring that the children appreciate their freedom and how it came about. On May 5th(Liberation Day) each year the children lay flowers on the graves of all the airmen of whatever nation who made the supreme sacrifice in Holland.

Old Boy
 
Thanks for all the postings in this special thread. The stories are so important and a pleasure to read. I agree about the photo albums being documented as much as possible otherwise no one will ever know who these men and women's names, etc.
 
The Dutch seem to retain a much more lasting memory and appreciation of RAF flyers than we in the UK. In the 1970's I was working for a while in Utrecht, and I was taken to see a little roadside memorial to the crew of a Lancaster which crashed nearby, no survivors. There were fresh flowers, and under a glass panel a book for anyone to add their particular personal message. Sorry, can't remember any more details, too long ago now, but it was a touching tribute by a people who genuinely understood what it was like living under Nazi repression and who also genuinely appreciate the sacrifice Allied airmen made in their efforts to free them from tyranny. Kids in this country look at the Spitfire Memorial on the Chester Road and neither know nor care what it's all about.

Big Gee
 
Big Gee, it pains me somewhat to say this but it has to be said. Rememberance for our war heroes is played down because of offending residents other than true british. It is not talked about in most schools now for the same reason. The vast majority of people in this country who are under 25 years of age really do not know what went on or what our parents and armed forces endured for six long years. Large numbers of them have not got a clue what the holocaust was. It seems wrong that our brave heroes are remembered in other countries better than here, but it is good and heartwarming to know that all their efforts are appreciated by others.
 
Stitcher,

I couldn't agree with you more. The remembrance (or, more exactly, the lack of it) of WW2 and what we and our Allies did to preserve freedom is, to me, the absolute manifestation of the evils of Political Correctness of those sad, sad people who support it. Our very history is being warped and misrepresented by those very people who Nazi PC (and it was very much that - PC) would have condemned out of hand to the camps.

I had a massive argument recently with some 30 year-old know-it-all who maintained (like Henry Ford was supposed to have done) that 'history is bunk' - the fact that her ethnic background is one that the Nazis would have totally eliminated, given the chance, meant nothing to her. Like all PC idiots, the world began on the day she was born. She made me spit. She is not British, doesn't want to be British, but is perfectly prepared to accept, without bothering to learn about the sacrifices our parents' generation made to remain British, all of our (supposed) British freedoms.

The older I get, the more (and I hate to say this) I am leaning towards the more reactionary politics which - surprise, surprise! - are gaining ground in this and other western European countries.

It sickens me, the way our history and our birthright are being trashed.

Big Gee
 
I feel exactly the same as you Big Gee. I am also furious at the way society and community life has and still is being eroded. Up until ten years ago the whole street put to a street collection when there was a death. The money was given to the next of kin to help them out in their hour of need. Like I said, all that ended ten years ago and if there is a funeral these days no one even opens their door to have a look. Its all very sad. I suppose we ought to get back on thread now.
 
Big Gee & Stitcher,
Your sentiments and feelings,I understand ,and agree with.However, this thread was started to celebrate the return of our finest,to be informative,and to show, they who gave so much, are, appreciated by many.
 
The Dutch have a fine way of ensuring that the children appreciate their freedom and how it came about. On May 5th(Liberation Day) each year the children lay flowers on the graves of all the airmen of whatever nation who made the supreme sacrifice in Holland.

Old Boy what a great way of remebering and appreciating sacrifices made by others we could learn from that ,,maybe :)
 
Ray Barrett said:
Big Gee & Stitcher,
Your sentiments and feelings,I understand ,and agree with.However, this thread was started to celebrate the return of our finest,to be informative,and to show, they who gave so much, are, appreciated by many.
Click to expand...

Yes, sorry about that, Ray. I just lose my cool when I contemplate how our national heritage is being eroded, that's all.

Big Gee
 
Hello
I have joined this forum because I'm trying to gather as much information for my MIL. She served during WW2 as a plotter. During the war years, she made many friends who didn't return. This year, she turns 90 and I'm going to put a folder together with as much information about the friends she lost. Flt Sgt K H C Ingram was one of the many friends she lost and my Google search has brought me here. I believe there are some photographs of a memorial in Holland where Flt Sgt Ingram sadly lost his life at just 21. I possible, I would like to access these photographs in order to include them in the folder I'm compiling. I've tried to find them on the Dutch page mentioned but can't find them. Can someone help me please?

Many thanks. As you can appreciate, my MIL has many stories to tell and I'm going to document them.
 
Hello Wendy and Welcome. I think I can help you. My brother Arthur Beresford was a member of the same Lancaster crew as Kenneth Ingram who was the flight engineer.. They belonged to 50th Squadron RAF Bomber Command. They were shot down over Holland on Thursday 22nd June 1944.
The plane crashed near the village of Oone not far from Appeldoorn. 2 of the crew could not bail out and were killed. 6 did bail out 3 of whom were captured and became POWs. 2 escaoed back to England. However, Ken Ingram was hidden by the Resistance but sadly they were caught in Appeldoorn on 2nd October 1944 and he and 6 members of the Resistance were shot.

I do have some photos but they will take a day or two to sort out. I will contact you by private message in a few days.

Chris Beresford (Old Boy)
 
Old Boy said:
Hello Wendy and Welcome. I think I can help you. My brother Arthur Beresford was a member of the same Lancaster crew as Kenneth Ingram who was the flight engineer.. They belonged to 50th Squadron RAF Bomber Command. They were shot down over Holland on Thursday 22nd June 1944.
The plane crashed near the village of Oone not far from Appeldoorn. 2 of the crew could not bail out and were killed. 6 did bail out 3 of whom were captured and became POWs. 2 escaoed back to England. However, Ken Ingram was hidden by the Resistance but sadly they were caught in Appeldoorn on 2nd October 1944 and he and 6 members of the Resistance were shot.

I do have some photos but they will take a day or two to sort out. I will contact you by private message in a few days.

Chris Beresford (Old Boy)
Click to expand...

Thank you so much. A while ago, I found one record that said Kenneth Ingram had been shot and hung from a pole with Traitor written on a piece of card around his neck! Would be nice to put as much accurate information in the folder for her.
 
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