Relation with Lake (class): No. Other Cemetery in Area (OCA)  
Total nr. of casualties buried here (TC): 1 end WW2, today 1. 
Lake casualties, initially, end WW2 (LC-I): 0
Unknown today: 0 
of which unknown from Lake (LC-U): 0
of which unknown from North Sea (NS-U): 0
Initial burial site in WW2.
Post war burial site for collection and reburial from other sites: no.  
Cemetery with Lake casualties today: no. 


                
EGMOND-BINNEN PROTESTANT CHURCHYARD

Pre-war grave. Not registered in the CWGC database. No green-and-white 'Commonwealth War Graves' sign on the gate. On 6 October 1938 a Handley Page Harrow K6971 light bomber of RAF 215 sqn went on a training mission and was lost over the southern North Sea. Four weeks later the body of F/O Douglas Aubry Hamilton washed ashore south of Egmond aan Zee. He was buried November 4th 1938 by the local authorities in the churchyard of the Protestant Church in Egmond-Binnen village.

     

Dutch name cemetery: Egmond-Binnen Hervormde Kerk. 
Full name: Egmond-Binnen Protestant Churchyard.
Address (usable for car navigation):
Kloosterweg - Abdijlaan.

For reaction or comments; send us an email,
see address and info at CONTACT.
Please use as subject title: 'Egmond-Binnen'.








 

Although 11 months before the start of WW2, we consider this aircraft and crew the first victims of the airwar over our region in WW2. Flying Officer Hamilton is the first Allied airman buried in Holland. Crew member Aircraftman Trevor Prowse was recovered 19 December 1938 off Arendal, south Norway near Kristiansand, Skagerrak. The others are MIA. They are: Pilot P/O Roland Noah Haynes, P/O Thomas I.S. Munro and Leading Aircraftman Charles S. Lodge.





















































   


















In fact this location is the 1000 year old graveyard of a nearby abbey/monastery (Benedictine monks) that was build here in the 10th century. Destroyed by Protestant pirates fighting the Catholics in 1573. In 1837 the Protestant community in Egmond-Binnen build a new small church (above photo) on the grounds of the old Abbey, which was a deserted ruine since the pirate visit. Material from the ruine was used for this new church. In 1935 the old abbey was rebuild and the Benedictine monks returned. Since then the two churches stand next to each other on these grounds. The Protestants have outlined their cemetery plot with a low hedge row (the brown hedge row on underneath photo). Also the monks have planted bushes and trees around their cemetery section. Pilot Officer Hamilton was not buried in the Protestant or monks section, but in the old abbey's cemetery general section. Everybody expected in 1938 that burial was temporary, but he still rests here today. 





















































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November 1938 Dutch newspaper article on the washing ashore of F/O Hamilton. Fully clothed in his flying suit with readable papers and documents that identified him directly. This news was the first confirmation that K6971 was lost over the North Sea with loss of all aboard.








































































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Photo below: The Protestant Church and its cemetery section behind the brown hedge. Visible next to the bell tower In the background is the red tile roof of the abbey. Flying Officer Hamilton's grave is on the front corner in the green. The monks cemetery is left on this side of the tree row.








































































Photo below: the cemetery section of the Benedictine monks between the two rows of trees.








































































Below: view from the monks plot towards the street.








































































Oldest grave stones are from year 1600. Most grave markers have vanished over the centuries.









































































Grave of F/O Hamilton can only be visited on the 1st Sunday of the month. This is between 09:30 - 10:45h when the gate is open for church service.



Photo received 2018 from relatives of aircraftman Trevor Prowse.
His grave stone/commemorative stone in Grimstad (near Arendal), Fjaere Church churchyard, Norway:  










































































© ZZairwar (Zuyder Zee Air War)


Special thanks to Mrs. Beryl Moran (nee Prowse).





Other North Sea-coastal cemeteries with war graves in this area (north to south):


- Callantsoog  http://www.zzairwar.nl/dossiers/906.html

- Petten (exhumed)  http://www.zzairwar.nl/dossiers/965.html

- Schoorl  http://www.zzairwar.nl/dossiers/968.html

- Bergen (aan Zee)  http://www.zzairwar.nl/dossiers/911.html

- Alkmaar  http://www.zzairwar.nl/dossiers/920.html

- Egmond aan Zee Protestant (exhumed)  http://www.zzairwar.nl/dossiers/854.html

- Egmond aan Zee General (exhumed)  http://www.zzairwar.nl/dossiers/853.html

- Egmond-Binnen (this page)

- Castricum  http://www.zzairwar.nl/dossiers/927.html

- Heemskerk  http://www.zzairwar.nl/dossiers/938.html

- Wijk aan Zee  http://www.zzairwar.nl/dossiers/977.html

- Beverwijk  http://www.zzairwar.nl/dossiers/924.html





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