This is a piece taken
from the book "Træk fra Odense under den tyske Besættelse"
by Søren Hansen in 1945. It is the only first hand account
I am aware of, and portrays the scene of the funeral
of the brave young men who had laid down their lives
in defence of the right to freedom of another country.
A true sacrifice, and never forgotten (on either side
of the North Sea).
It was kindly submitted
and translated, by Carsten Høj Rasmussen, a friend of
the Macrobert's Reply site from Denmark. Of course it
omits Sgt Maycock from the obituary as he was only later
to be discovered to be part of the crew when Sgt Jeffs
(the sole survivor) told the
authorities he had been on that fateful flight.
The following seven English
flyers:
Sergeant Sharp
Sergeant Butherworth
Sergeant Nicholson
Sergeant Spriggs
Pilot (Officer) Hall
(Officer) Booth
and Officer Ryan
were buried the 21th
May at seven o'clock from the chapel.
The fliers on the night
of the 18th May chrashed with their aeroplane by the
Little Belt near by Little Belt Bridge. The coffins
arrived to Odense on the day of the funeral at about
half past five and were received by a German guard of
honour.
The coffins were carried
into the chapel, and remained there wrapped up in the
English flag and under German guard of honour. At seven
o'clock the coffins were carried out by german soldiers,
while it was precluded from the organ. At the place
in front of main entrance of the chapel the coffins
were received by the german guard of honour. While the
guard of honour present arms and saluted, the killed
were remembered, after that the funeral procession with
the guard of honour in front moved to the big common
grave.
In the first row was
dug two doublegraves, and in the backrow was dug one
grave to three of those killed. After the coffins were
placed above the graves, a German army chaplain pronounced
the blessing and made an oration in which he reminded
about the peaceful competitions in which the different
countries had competed in by the great Olympic Games.
The army chaplain pointed out that this peaceful competition
now was succeeded by the war. But as long the war is
fought in a way where we burry our enemies in a way
like today, the war is something different from vendetta.
The army chaplain mentioned, that the killed had fighted
bravely for their country, and perhaps they have mothers
who lament their sons. He expressed the hope, that the
day when German soldiers meet the dead in a foreign
country, there also will be mothers who lament these.
After the oration the
army chaplain said the Lord's Prayer and officiated
at the graveside ceremony. The present German Officers
also threw earth on the coffins. After this the coffins
were slowly lowed into the graves to the tones of a
bugle. With full military honours the german guard of
honour saluted above the graves and the procession left
the cemetery. During the officiatation at the graveside
ceremony the bells of the chapel was ringing. Present
at the funeral from Denmark were Captain Buch, Senior
Lieutenant E. W. Jørgensen, and Superintendent Frost.
On the graves were laid wreaths from Odense Counsil,
the Chief Constable in Odense, the 6th Regiment, Consul
Muus, the staff of the churchyard and the German army.
During the celebration the churchyard was closed off
by the Danish police.
More
on the W7531 crew .....
More
on the W7531 last mission ...
