Relation with Lake (class): Lake Area Inland Cemetery (LAI)  
Total nr. of casualties buried here (TC): end WW2: 0. Today 4. 
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: no. Became burial site in 1948.
Post war burial site for collection and reburial from other sites: yes.
Cemetery with Lake casualties today: no.


             
EMMELOORD GENERAL CEMETERY

In Emmeloord rest 4 crew members of Wellington R1757, 57 Sqn, shot down by a German nightfighter in the night of 12 October 1941. They were buried here in 1948. Initially they were in the wreck that had penetrated deep into the ground, 11km away from here to the East. In WW2 and until the recovery, the crash site was marked as a field grave with their names on a wooden cross. The post-war burial made Emmeloord the only location with war graves in the whole reclaimed land province Flevoland/NOP.   

   
Dutch name cemetery: Emmeloord Alg. Begr. pl.
CWGC name: Noord-Oost-Polder (Emmeloord) General Cemetery
Address (usable for car navigation):
Espelerlaan 69, Emmeloord

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







The wooden cross:
In October 1941 the crashsite (north-east of Marknesse/north-west Blokzijl) was already dry land, but marshy and full with reeds. During that time, the first 3 prospector-camps were opened (camp Blokzijl, Kuinre and Vollenhove). From there the cultivation of the new land (polder) started. The wreck site must have been disclosed end 1941/begin 1942. By April 1943 the Germans knew which aircraft was involved, because a German Grave Registration Officer wrote to the mayor of nearby Kuinre a letter in which he ordered the mayor to place a temporary grave marker on the crashsite (land grid R34). He dictated the exact German text and names that had to be engraved.

The marker (wooden cross) was placed on the crash site (field grave) in May 1943. However the text was not German but engraved in Dutch. It read: "Hier rusten vier engelse vliegers, gevallen op 12.X.1941, sergeant A.W. Jeffries, sergeant D.F.M. Cooke, sergeant  W.C. Wood, sergeant W.H.S. Byers". The German officer also send a copy of the letter to the Red Cross in The Hague. The cross was removed during the recovery in 1948. The '12X41' on the cross symbolizes crashdate 12 October (X = 10) 1941.


















































































Below map with the crash site.
One crew member was found dead near the old Zuyder Sea dike (white dotted line) and buried in Kuinre October 1941. This was P/O H.L. Myers from Canada. A gunner survived and was arrested in Blokzijl. This was P/O L. Rickard, also Canadian. He became POW. After the recovery of the wreck in 1948, the most logical location for the burial of the four, was Amersfoort (Oud-Leusden). This was a centralization cemetery in that period and used in these cases. Another option was of course Kuinre, were P/O Myers was already buried, or Blokzijl, Marknesse or Vollenhove. It became a political choice to bury the men in Emmeloord, which was the new centre of the polder and could use some historic background.   



































































Below. Kuinre. The grave of P/O H.L. Myers RCAF on the right.

























































 Sources/thanks/more info:

- PATS Schuurmans. Site:   www.teunispats.net/jack-edward-gibbs.htm   
  When on this site and top-section appears, wait 30 seconds to load (big page). Then tick     Crtl + F     and type in the search field:  R1757.

- Site www.flevolandsgeheugen.nl/photo1949    (old photo war graves Emmeloord 1949). 

- Site CWGC

- Stichting Urk in Oorlogstijd (Pieter Hoeksta)





© ZZairwar (Zuyder Zee Air War).