Relation with Lake (class): Former Lake Casualty Cemetery (FLC)  
Total nr. of casualties buried here (TC): 2 end WW2, today: 0. 
Lake casualties, initially, end WW2 (LC-I): 2
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: yes, Lake Cemetery West side of Lake (LCW)
Post war burial site for collection and reburial from other sites: no 
Cemetery with Lake casualties today: no (cleared). 


         
WIJDENES PROTESTANT CHURCHYARD

Two washed ashore airmen were buried here until 1965. One was not-identified, interred 27 April 1943. The other was Polish airman Sgt. F. Bladowski, buried 16 June 1944.

A few months after the war, a Dutch/British investigation was conducted here on the airplane that crashed off Wijdenes in Lake IJsselmeer (Old Zuyder Sea). Divers found out it was a 'BH' coded Lancaster bomber, therefore a 300 Sqn RAF/PAF (Polish) aircraft. Assumed it was the BH-K, Lancaster LL807, pilot Jerzy Rozanski, who had washed ashore on the opposite lake-shore and was buried with crewmembers in Urk. It was believed Sgt. Bladowski was also of this aircraft, or 'Bladowski' was a false name that one of Rozanski's crew used. In 1998 it proved the wreck was in fact Sgt. Bladowski's own aircraft, the BH-C, missing Lancaster DV286, shot down night 12/13 June 1944. 

   

Dutch name cemetery: Begraafplaats Protestanse kerk. 
Full name: Wijdenes Protestant Churchyard
Address (usable for car navigation):
Kerkbuurt 70, Wijdenes.

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








Sgt. Feliks Bladowski's body lay in the water against the dike. Local farmer Mr. Bruin sr. made a coffin and buried the airman here 16 June 1944. On a Sunday afternoon in 2002 (58 years later), the doorbell rang at the farm of the Bruin family. Farmer Bruin jr. opened the door. An older man with grey hair asked for information at a random farm he saw. Bruin jr. could not understand him. Bruins wife was originally from Poland and she noticed the man was also Polish, they talked. The man at the door was Mr. Marian Bladowski, searching for the grave of his brother Feliks, buried here 1944. That sunday evening they drove Mr. Bladowski to Breda, because the remains of his brother were reburied there in 1965. Read more on his memorial page on www.polishwargraves.nl/bred/0177.htm 






























Photo below. When Lancaster DV286 was on fire, Sgt. Bladowski tapped on the shoulder of bomb aimer Pilot Officer Boguslaw Morski. Together they jumped with their parachute from the doomed bomber. Sgt. Bladowski drowned. P/O Morski was rescued next morning from the sea by two fishermen and became POW.

In 2002, 'Bogie' Morski (age 83) returned to Holland and also to Wijdenes, as part of a self-initiated promotional tour to get his bomber recovered from the lake, because 5 men of his crew were still inside. On below photo he is accompanied by diver Nico and is interviewed by Mr. Klaas Tol of the historical society Venhuizen. In 2013, Mr. Morski was 94 years and lived in Florida, USA.













































The church is in renovation. Some graves are quite old.






























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1940-1945 graves with empty spaces.






























Image below: after Wijdenes, Mr. Morski visited the Polish field of honour in Breda (Ettensebaan) and lay flowers at the grave of his crewmate Sgt. Feliks Bladowski. 






























































Sources 

-Nowy Dziennik (Polish Daily News), New York.
-Interviews
-Site Polishwargraves.nl



   

© ZZairwar (Zuyder Zee Air war).