Relation with Lake (class): Lake Casualty Cemetery (LCC)  
Total nr. of casualties buried here (TC): at least 4 end WW2, today: 4. 
Lake casualties, initially, end WW2 (LC-I): 1
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 east side of Lake (LCE)
Post war burial site for collection and reburial from other sites: no
Cemetery with Lake casualties today: yes (LCC)


               
KOUDUM GENERAL CEMETERY

Koudum was the administrative and central village of Hemelumer Oldeferd county, a community that existed until 1984. During WW2 it had 4km of lake-coastline in her care. To the West; the Bay at Molkwerum ('Molkwar Bight'), and 4km of dyke to her south at Scharl, at the Red Cliff. West, in Molkwerum, is 1 war grave of a washed ashore airman. In the South, at Scharl on the foot of the Red Cliff, 5 RAF airmen washed ashore early in the war and buried there, but after that burials had to be made in the city of Stavoren.

In village Koudum itself are 4 early war graves of airmen, buried mid 1942, recovered from the fields. The number of washed ashore airmen in Koudum is zero, because the other villages in the community a bit closer to the sea took that role and Stavoren stepped forward. However, there is a link with the sea in Koudum via the grave of F/O John Whittingham (see further below). In 1984, Hemelumer Oldeferd community reorganized and seized to exist. The H.O. archive is today in the Dutch National Archive. It should be researched if non-identified (American or other) airmen were exhumed from here to other locations after the war.

   

Dutch name cemetery: Koudum Algemene Begraafplaats. 
CWGC name (still): Hemelumer Oldeferd (Koudum) Gen. Cemetery.
Address (usable for car navigation):
Kerkhoflaan 1, Koudum (Community Nijefurd).

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








This cemetery is not located in the city-centre near the churches. This is 'the new cemetery' (1930), build on the Southern outskirts of Koudum. Below photos show the view to the left and right from the cemetery gate. 





























View when entering the cemetery. The war graves are in the back of the field.
































































The monument is to commemorate Dutch resistance fighters.























































Photo below: The three war graves nearest to the camera (grave 15, 16 & 17) are the crew of Hampden AT248, 420 Sqn, crashed here night 02/03 July 1942. Read more on them in the links at end of page. The grave nearest to the central path (grave 18) is of F/O John Whittingham, buried here a week before the Hampden crew.






















































Photo below: 4th of July 1942. Wartime photo taken from behind the war graves, looking towards the entrance. On 28 June 1942, F/O John Whittingham (Halifax W1067) was the first Allied airman to be buried here (grave 18), on the corner of the empty back row. A week later, 3 men of Hampden AT248, Sgt. Waddington (grave 17), F/Sgt. Whytock (grave 16) and Sgt. Williams (grave 15) were interred. The flowers on Whittinghams grave are still there, but not as fresh anymore as on the three other graves. The wooden crosses are in preparation. When today a person is buried here, the fresh grave looks exactly the same, until the moment after some weeks/months the gravestone is positioned. The poles with grave numbers and the path-tiles have not changed here for 72 years.















































Flying Officer John A. Whittingham was pilot of Halifax II, W1067 of 78 Sqn. Shot down in the night 25/26 June 1942. He gave his crew opportunity to use their parachutes. When he jumped himself, he was too low and was found dead near the dike next morning. His aircraft crashed in the Old Zuyder Sea (lake IJsselmeer), not far off the coast near here. Crew member Sgt. Harold Dronfield was believed to be in the aircraft at the time of the crash and is MIA since then. 






























































































Read more/images:

- http://nostalgisch.koudum.nl/oorlog/Hampden-crash-Koudum.html

- www.626-squadron.co.uk/willem19.htm

- www.teunispats.net/jack-edward-gibbs.htm
   When in the top section of this site, allow 30 seconds to load (big page), tick    CTRL+F     and enter    W1067    in the search field.  









© ZZairwar (Zuyder Zee Air War).