After 79 years, RAF families find peace even without bodies

RELATIVES of four Second World War airmen who went missing in action have been comforted to learn the crew died together, despite no trace of their remains being found in an excavation.

An operation to exhume the bodies of four RAF airmen began recently in the Netherlands after a campaign by their loved ones and a Dutch family.

Their Stirling bomber had been shot down during a raid on the Nazis’ industrial nerve centre in 1942 and fell into a field near Echt. The wreckage sank into the earth over the decades, becoming the crew’s final resting place until the Dutch government agreed to fund excavation work this year.

The breakthrough was secured largely thanks to farmhand Joep Jennissen, who helped clear the field in the war and wanted to see the men given a proper burial. His daughter, Marleen, carried on his work and tracked down relatives of the airmen – pilot Irwin Fountain, mid-upper gunner John Greenwood, rear gunner Peter Price and engineer Maurice Pep

‘My uncle joined the RAF at 17 and died at 27, so he would have wanted to be buried with his comrades’

per – who knew nothing of their fate. Several relatives were invited to the Netherlands as guests of the government for a commemoration ceremony before the work was due to begin.

Becky Dutton, a niece of Sgt Pepper, told The Sunday Telegraph: “The Dutch were invaded by the Germans and they were so grateful for (the air crew’s) contribution. Everything to do with the war, they are very respectful, they want to do the right thing.”

While the dig found the debris did not contain six active bombs, as feared, there was no sign of the airmen’s remains. The recovery team was able to establish that Stirling W7630 had crashed vertically and death would have been almost instant for the crew.

Ms Dutton said: “It was incredibly moving when I was standing by the crash site. That was comforting, to know that they would have hopefully not suffered. My uncle joined the RAF at 17 and died at 27, so he would have wanted to be buried with his comrades.” Experts will continue to sift the earth for any remains of the men.