#Story
Stirling bomber crashes
On the night of 3 to 4 July 1943, British Stirling III BK717 bombers took off from Chedburgh-Suffolk Air Base in England, with the aim of bombing the city of Cologne. Each bomber carried seven crew members. En route, they were intercepted by German fighter jets.
During the flight, one of the bombers was hit and crashed burning from 7000 metres near the hamlet of Reuzenhoek. Five dead crew members lay severely burned in the wreckage. A sixth crew member was found dead with his parachute some distance away. From Zaamslag, the six recovered bodies were transported to Vlissingen and buried there. The seventh airman, L.L.Kelly, parachuted to safety and was taken to France by the resistance in Hulst.
However, on 29 July 1943, he was captured near Bordeaux and held in the Fresnes prison in Paris. He was then transported to the Heydekrug prison camps in Lithuania and Thorn in Poland.
Zaamslagsedijk, Reuzenhoek Zeeland, Nederland
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