Letter from P. Michel, Beauchery, France regarding the identities of the aircraft crews
Title
Letter from P. Michel, Beauchery, France regarding the identities of the aircraft crews
Description
Letter is from P.Michel a resident of Beauchery where John's aircraft crashed. He describes the fact that two aircraft crashed on the village that night and as he was directed by the German authorities to bury the bodies of those who had died he relates that there was only one known survivor and only two could be identified.
Creator
Date
1945-05-19
Language
Format
One typewritten letter
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
EMichelPCarterDG450519
Transcription
BEAUCHERY, 19 May 1945
Madame D. G. Carter,
The Mayor of Beauchery communicated your letter of 10th March to me and I hasten to give you some particulars I have been able to gather in regard to the crews of the two planes which crashed on the night of 3/4 May 1944.
The German authorities having authorised me to attend to the burial of the victims, I first assembled the human remains of the 1st Plane which fell near my home on a house which it set on fire: there was no personal object found which would help identification. From what was found there it would appear to me that there could only be one Airman at the moment of striking the ground. The German authorities ordered me to mark as indication "Ten Unknown English Airmen". I did not remark about this thinking that other Airmen may have jumped with parachutes and hidden in the district.
About the 2nd Plane which crashed 1500/1600 yds from my farm, we gathered human debris from an area of 2 hectares and it was equally impossible to identify any; the only thing found was a broken ring which was sent to the British Red Cross after the liberation. A portion of the body of an Airman was buried separately on German orders as they claimed to have found objects which could later permit identification. They did not give me any other details.
The torn bodies of the other Airmen were buried together: the Germans ordered us to mark them as "Six Unknown English Airmen". Although it seemed to me that there were three bodies in all. I did not make any remarks for the same reason as before.
Two other Airmen were killed on striking the ground on baling out: the German authorities who had collected the bodies handed them over to us after having searched them in our presence; one of them, Sgt. R. Wilson, was identified by a letter and his ring was taken off before burial and also returned to England. A young Australian carried neither object nor letter permitting identification except a ring which was included with the others – we buried him marked "Unknown". A single Airman baled out and was found, wounded by M. de Boisgelin and was taken prisoner by the Germans. According to information furnished by him, the young Australian was called Haeurst (Hayhurst) or similar name.
The particulars I give you have already been furnished to Miss O. Moore, 52 Lancaster Dr., Elm Park, Hornchurch (Essex) who has also corresponded with M. de Boisgelin and she can pass on to you any explanation she got from him, but I do not believe there is anything sufficiently precise which could give you any certainty as to the fate of your son.
I also remember that one of the Airmen buried together from the plane which fell in the field, had very slender hands, almost the hands of a young girl, and from the length of his arms was of small stature; that is the only remark that could be made which would help in the identification of a body.
I must ask you to excuse the pain caused by the enumeration of the sad details relative to the heroic death of your son's comrades. As you can see, from the 15 men composing the crews of two machines, one is safe, six at least were buried in our cemetery and there remain eight for whom all hope is not lost.
Certain people have claimed that other Airmen, saved by their parachutes, were rescued: it has not been possible for me to verify whether these reports had any foundation.
(Signed) P. Michel.
Madame D. G. Carter,
The Mayor of Beauchery communicated your letter of 10th March to me and I hasten to give you some particulars I have been able to gather in regard to the crews of the two planes which crashed on the night of 3/4 May 1944.
The German authorities having authorised me to attend to the burial of the victims, I first assembled the human remains of the 1st Plane which fell near my home on a house which it set on fire: there was no personal object found which would help identification. From what was found there it would appear to me that there could only be one Airman at the moment of striking the ground. The German authorities ordered me to mark as indication "Ten Unknown English Airmen". I did not remark about this thinking that other Airmen may have jumped with parachutes and hidden in the district.
About the 2nd Plane which crashed 1500/1600 yds from my farm, we gathered human debris from an area of 2 hectares and it was equally impossible to identify any; the only thing found was a broken ring which was sent to the British Red Cross after the liberation. A portion of the body of an Airman was buried separately on German orders as they claimed to have found objects which could later permit identification. They did not give me any other details.
The torn bodies of the other Airmen were buried together: the Germans ordered us to mark them as "Six Unknown English Airmen". Although it seemed to me that there were three bodies in all. I did not make any remarks for the same reason as before.
Two other Airmen were killed on striking the ground on baling out: the German authorities who had collected the bodies handed them over to us after having searched them in our presence; one of them, Sgt. R. Wilson, was identified by a letter and his ring was taken off before burial and also returned to England. A young Australian carried neither object nor letter permitting identification except a ring which was included with the others – we buried him marked "Unknown". A single Airman baled out and was found, wounded by M. de Boisgelin and was taken prisoner by the Germans. According to information furnished by him, the young Australian was called Haeurst (Hayhurst) or similar name.
The particulars I give you have already been furnished to Miss O. Moore, 52 Lancaster Dr., Elm Park, Hornchurch (Essex) who has also corresponded with M. de Boisgelin and she can pass on to you any explanation she got from him, but I do not believe there is anything sufficiently precise which could give you any certainty as to the fate of your son.
I also remember that one of the Airmen buried together from the plane which fell in the field, had very slender hands, almost the hands of a young girl, and from the length of his arms was of small stature; that is the only remark that could be made which would help in the identification of a body.
I must ask you to excuse the pain caused by the enumeration of the sad details relative to the heroic death of your son's comrades. As you can see, from the 15 men composing the crews of two machines, one is safe, six at least were buried in our cemetery and there remain eight for whom all hope is not lost.
Certain people have claimed that other Airmen, saved by their parachutes, were rescued: it has not been possible for me to verify whether these reports had any foundation.
(Signed) P. Michel.
Collection
Citation
P Michel, “Letter from P. Michel, Beauchery, France regarding the identities of the aircraft crews,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 11, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/42686.