It has been a while since I posted an update on the 2014 recovery of the Halifax and its crew members. The very good news recently announced by the BIDKL is that the missing four crew members have all been identified since, and that there will be a burial with full military honours on June 28th in Wapenveld.
http://www.vriezeserfgoed.nl/nieuws/19/expositie-met-wrakstukken-halifax.htm
This after 73 years will give all crew members a final resting place:
Sgt. Thomas Victor Trollope (tailgunner, age 22), W/O Frederick Henry Blake (pilot, age 26) and WO2 Rodeny Webber (gunner, age 21) had been identified in 1943 and are buried in Oud Leusden.
Sgt. Philip Henry Eldridge (wireless operator, age 29), Sgt. William David Hawkins (navigator, age 23), Sgt. John Ceredig Jones (bombaimer, age 31) and Sgt. Gerard Stanley Walters (engineer, age 22) had been declared missing in 1943. Unidentified remains found during recovery operations in 1943 have been buried in Wapenveld since 1943, but did not account for all four crew members. A further investigation and recovery effort shortly after the war did not produce any further remains. The 2014 full excavation did, and the BIDKL was able to identify all four remaining missing crew members. They will be laid to rest in Wapenveld. The existing memorial headstone to the unknown RAF crewmember(s) that was erected by local villagers will be retained and joined by four CWGC headstones.
In all, a great result.
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