Jalhay Commemoration
550 Squadron Association Visit June 2014
A selection of photographs from a visit to Jalhay, Belgium in June 2014.
Click on individual pictures to view the larger image.
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550 Squadron Association Visit
In June 2014 the Squadron Association visited the Jalhay Memorial in order to lay a wreath in memory of the F/Sgt Jefferies crew. A visit was also made to the Heverlee War Memorial in order to place crosses on the graves of the four aircrew resting there. Some photographs from the visits are shown below.
See also the tribute on the Jalhay (Rebecq memorial) web-page.
Jalhay Memorial
A wreath was laid on behalf of the 550 Squadron and RAF North Killingholme Association, and poppy markers on behalf of the Rebecq Association, for the F/Sgt Jefferies crew.
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Wilfred Burie of the Rebecq Association and André Deroanne from Jalhay.
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Fragments of the aircraft are still being discovered by walkers in the forest; they place these on the memorial as they are discovered.
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André Deroanne handed over to the Squadron Association some fragments of the aircraft so that they may return to North Killingholme and be placed in the Squadron Museum.
Aircraft Fragments
In addition to the parts of the aircraft that walkers in the forest place on the memorial, and the parts already recovered to the Clermont Museum (on temporary display in the Berinzenne museum), several local people also have fragments of the aircraft. The bulk of the aircraft is, however, believed to lie now in the waters of the reservoir that is in the valley of the forset but which did not exist at the time of the crash.
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Heverlee War Cemetery
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77 Squadron, MZ829/KN-X
Close to the Jalhay crash site another Bomber Command memorial was discovered. In fact it is more a "Memorial Site" as the plaque on it stated "On this Canadian plot of land", which is quite a significant statement. The memorial is on the road signage directing to the site from the main roads in the area so it is relatively easy to find. The crew (6 RCAF and 1 RAF) were listed on a plaque on the site but neither the Squadron nor aircraft were identified. However, on the basis of the signs and photo of the crew on the site then this is the memorial to the 77 Squadron crew of MZ829/KN-X (Handley Page Halifax III) lost on the 2nd November 1944, crashed near Verviers, Belgium. The memorial is from 1951 and appears to incorporate part of the aircraft.
See: F/O R E B Pike RCAF (Pilot), and from there the remainder of the crew are also listed.
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