Relation with Lake (class): Lake Casualty Cemetery (LCC)
Total nr. of casualties buried here (TC): end WW2: at least 18, today: 4.
Lake casualties, initially, end WW2 (LC-I): 18
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: yes (LCW).
HOORN, GENERAL CEMETERY "KEERN"
Airmen that washed ashore here or were recovered by Hoorn fishermen usually were transported to Amsterdam. End 1943 when traffic became dangerous because of roaming Allied fighters, burials started also in Hoorn itself. Today there are 4 RAF airmen interred in Hoorn, all from the Lake and identified. Two are from Lancaster LL689 that crashed 15th Feb. 1944 in the water south-east of Hoorn. The other 2 airmen are Mosquito VI crew of NT122 that crashed 6th June 1944 (D-day) into the lake near the dike just south of here. Navigator was F/Lt. Victor Brewis. Pilot was F/Lt. Arthur Whitten-Brown Jr. He was the son of Arthur Whitten-Brown senior who made the first transatlantic flight in a multi engine aircraft (Vickers Vimy), together with John Alcock in 1919. After the war the number of war graves in Hoorn was larger (at least 18) because of the high number of American casualties.
Dutch name cemetery: Hoorn, Alg. Begr. Pl. "Keern".
Full name: Hoorn General Cemetery
Address (usable for car navigation):
Dampten 2/corner De Keern.
For reaction or comments; send us an email,
see address and info at CONTACT.
Please use as subject title: 'Hoorn'.
The Americans
At the end of WW2, the row below had at least 9 graves with 2 coffins each (2 deep). In total minimum 18 Allied airmen. The number American airmen was so high because two B-17 bombers collided over Hoorn on 7 July 1944. They fell from the sky onto the western outskirts of the city. The area was full with debris, 13 bodies and unexploded bombs (the bombers were on route to Merseburg-Leuna and the bombs were not armed yet). The aircraft both belonged to the 390BG and were 42-97983 piloted by 2Lt. Cribbs and the 42-107070 piloted by 1Lt. Gregor. Of the 20 men, 6 became POW and 1 evaded: Sgt. Arthur F. Brown who became quite well known in our region. In 1945 the American dead were exhumed and reburied in US War Cemetery "Netherlands" in Margraten.
Before the two B-17 came down over Hoorn, there was already at least 1 American airman buried in Hoorn. This was S/Sgt. John V. Lundstrom, crew member of B-24 42-40973 "Battle Axe" of the 44BG, piloted by 1Lt. H.C. Almlie. This aircraft with 5 MIA is still lost today. In trouble, it turned over the North Sea back to the Dutch mainland and apparently came down in Lake IJsselmeer (Old Zuyder Sea). Three of its crew members were recovered from this central lake.
Above. L to R, headstones of F/Lt. Brewis, Sgts. Ratcliffe & Young (Lancaster LL689, same grave coffin stacked) and F/Lt. Arthur Whitten-Brown (Mosquito NT122).
Below. Situation 1945.
1944
Around the time the Americans of the B-17 collision were buried, an airman 'A. Brown' had washed ashore. He was probably buried in grave 1038 d-2 (lower coffin). On July 10 S/Sgt. DiTrapani's body was found during the salvage and buried in the upper coffin in the same grave 1038 d-1 (deep 1, upper coffin). A page in the MACR mentions grave 1045-2 for A. Brown and also d-2 for DiTrapani (as scheme below, but this is probably incorrect). When asked by the Germans, the surviving co-pilot of 107070, 1Lt. James R. Wicker stated that 'A. Brown' could be the missing Sgt. Arthur Brown, the waist gunner of '97983'. Despite an Army Service Number could not be found on the body, this led to the fact that Arthur Brown was declared dead and his family in the US received notice of this. In reality, Arthur Brown was on the run and with the Dutch underground. The A. Brown in the grave was Arthur Whitten-Brown, the washed ashore British pilot of Mosquito NT122, 605 Sqn.
Below: Entrance of the cemetery today.
Sources:
- MACR's and local bits and pieces on Arthur F. Brown
- site CWGC
- site ABMC
- Exposition in Hoorn on Hoorn in WW2, 2005
© ZZairwar (Zuyder Sea Air War)