Pierre Madry raises his Hat to the Crew of a British Bomber
Title
Pierre Madry raises his Hat to the Crew of a British Bomber
Description
An account of the crash of Lancaster ND533 written by Pierre Madry. It is followed by an address given by Air Commodore Eustace at a memorial ceremony for the crew of the Lancaster. Finally, there is an address by Abbe Plante, parish priest of Lyons-la-Foret, in English and French.
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Four printed sheets
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.
Identifier
MHoldenJ1521290-170725-080001, MHoldenJ1521290-170725-080002, MHoldenJ1521290-170725-080003, MHoldenJ1521290-170725-080004
Transcription
[inserted] From Pierre [/inserted]
[inserted] To Ron Lorna [/inserted]
Pierre Madry, raises his hat to the crew of a British bomber
Pierre Madry, insurance writer for Axa in Belbeuf, is a fanatic of history, with a capital H, more than 50 years ago.
It is thanks to him that the recent ceremony in honour of the allied soldiers who crashed to the west of Lyons-la-forêt, took place.
[italics] "In February 1994, I heard an appeal from Laurent D'hondt, a gendarme from Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon, who was looking for information about the planes which crashed down in Normandy, he explained. My mother, who was 12 at the time, remembered a bomber crashing in the hamlet of La villenaise, on the Lyons plateau. the inhabitants had picked up the pieces, that is why a fragment of that plane decorated our kitchen for a long time". [italics]
Pierre Madry got in touch with the gendarme who then asked him some very precise questions, which brought our man to examine the problem in more detail in England. He put an advertisement in the Royal Air Force magazine and was soon in touch with a lady whose boy friend was on a bomber which crashed on the 9 Th. June 1944.
Pierre Madry discovers what follows step by step on backdrop of Liberation:
[italics] It is the 6 Th. June 1944 . . . [/italics]
[page break]
[underlined] Pierre MADRY: [/underlined]
It is the 6 Th. June 1944 and the Allies are landing on the beaches of Calvados. The German troops which are advancing towards the beaches of Normandy are a serious threat to the success of the military operation. Our Allies decide to bomb the railway network at the rear of the front in an attempt to disorganise the progression of the enemy.
Therefore during the night of 9 Th. to 10 Th. of June 1944, a squadron made up of 106 Lancaster bombers flies over our region to bomb a rail junction in Etampes, South of Paris. The Lancaster No ND 533 from the 49 Th. squadron takes off from its base in Fiskerton at 21.36 hours. It is attacked by the FLAK or by night fighters and crashes down ablaze here, among the trees.
Due to lack of time or sufficient height, most of the members of the crew are unable to bail out. According to official reports, only two members out of the seven crew were able to do so. Of these two, one did not survive. The remaining bomb-aimer managed to get out and the local Resistance very quickly took care of him.
Unfortunately, he was discovered during his trip back to England only to be imprisoned in Fresnes near to Paris. He will then be deported to the concentration camp in Buchenwald where he died of sickness on the 18 Th. October 1944, just one day before he was to be transferred among other Allied pilots and crew members to an aviators prisoners war camp.
[page break]
[underlined] Air Commodore EUSTACE: [/underlined]
I would like to address the Lord Mayor, the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Town council and all those members of the war-veterans associations, Ladies and Gentlemen
It is a great privilege for me to represent the Ambassador of Great Britain and the Royal Air Force at this ceremony in memory of my country's pilots whose Lancaster ND 533 crashed in Lyons-la-Forêt.
My military colleagues of the Embassy and I attend many commemorations and each time they are dignified and moving occasions. We greatly admire the way in which you, the French, took in our wounded during the war and the way in which you faithfully honour every year the memory of your and our dead ones.
Your armed forces and ours fought alongside more than 50 years ago. The French pilots were with the British Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain, and our pilots, our soldiers and our sailors fought together with the members of the Resistance against the Germans in Europe and in North Africa. The three corps are once more side by side; five years ago during the Golf [sic] war, for the last 4 years in Bosnia and in the North and South of Iraq to protect the Kurds and the Arabs who live in the marshes. In most of the United Nations headquarters, the main motor of influence is French-British. Likewise our military relationship is the main vector of the defence of Europe and of the development of an European identity within the NATO. Hardly a week goes by without Army, Navy or Air Force units crossing the Channel. British officers are sent to French units and vice versa.
Our staff meet regularly on a ministerial level as do our Chiefs of staff and Field officers. Moreover the European French-British Air Group was established last October and will carry out its first operational exercise next September.
It is therefore not surprising that our Ministers and our Chiefs of staff expressed their satisfaction at the co-operation which reigns between us.
May this co-operation be for ever progressive and lasting. That is my wish, not only as far as defence is concerned but also in every field of our political and daily life.
The world is changing but one thing remains true: the friendship and the affection which bring together the men and women of France and Great Britain as it was the case during the Second World War. Today you are providing evidence of it. The State visit of President Jacques CHIRAC to Great-Britain two weeks ago was yet another example of the very warm relation between our two countries.
I thank you from deep down in my heart for being faithful to the memory of our deads [sic], to those who died in your country and particularly today for honouring the sacrifice made by these English pilots who lost their lives in Lyons-la-Forêt.
We must not forget them. Thank you.
[page break]
[underlined] Abbé PLANTÉ, parish priest of Lyons-la-forêt: [/underlined]
May the Grace of Jesus, giver of life and conqueror of death still be with you.
We are gathered around this cross and around this spray of flowers to honour our
British brothers who lost their lives here. With this commemoration, this spray of
flowers and our presence here today, we would like to show our gratitude. Through
our prayer, we entrust them to the risen Christ.
Lord, please give our brothers, who sacrificed their lives eternal rest. May the endless light of His Face shining on them. By the Christ, our Lord. Amen!
Let us pray once more that our brothers may be in the hands of our Father:
Our Father, which are in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen!
May for our brothers the promise of resurrection be fulfilled. "I am the resurrection and the life", says Lord Jesus. He who believes me, will have eternal life, even after death.
Go in the peace of Christ and give thanks to God.
Que la Grâce de Jésus, donateur de vie et vainqueur de la mort soit toujours avec vous. Nous voici rassemblés autour de cette croix et autour de cette gerbe en hommage à nos frères Britanniques qui sont tombés en ce lieu. Nous voulons, par notre démarche, notre présence et l'offrande de cette gerbe leur manifester notre gratitude, et par notre priéres les confier au Christ ressuscité.
Seigneur donne à nos frères, qui ont fait le sacrifice de leur vie, le repos éternel et que brille sur eux la lumière sans fin de Sa Face, par le Christ notre Seigneur. Amen!
Prions encore en remettant nos frères entre les mains du Père:
Notre Père, qui est aux cieux, que ton nom soit sanctifié, que ton règne vienne, que ta volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel. Donne nous aujourd'hui notre pain de ce jour, pardonne nous nos offenses, comme nous pardonnons aussi à ceux qui nous ont offensé, et ne nous soumets pas à le tentation, mais délivre nous du mal. Amen!
Que s'accomplisse pour nos frères la promesse de la résurrection. "Je suis la résurrection et la vie" dit Jésus. Celui qui croit en moi, même s'il meurt, vivra éternellement.
Allons dans la paix du Christ, et rendons grâce à Dieu.
[inserted] To Ron Lorna [/inserted]
Pierre Madry, raises his hat to the crew of a British bomber
Pierre Madry, insurance writer for Axa in Belbeuf, is a fanatic of history, with a capital H, more than 50 years ago.
It is thanks to him that the recent ceremony in honour of the allied soldiers who crashed to the west of Lyons-la-forêt, took place.
[italics] "In February 1994, I heard an appeal from Laurent D'hondt, a gendarme from Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon, who was looking for information about the planes which crashed down in Normandy, he explained. My mother, who was 12 at the time, remembered a bomber crashing in the hamlet of La villenaise, on the Lyons plateau. the inhabitants had picked up the pieces, that is why a fragment of that plane decorated our kitchen for a long time". [italics]
Pierre Madry got in touch with the gendarme who then asked him some very precise questions, which brought our man to examine the problem in more detail in England. He put an advertisement in the Royal Air Force magazine and was soon in touch with a lady whose boy friend was on a bomber which crashed on the 9 Th. June 1944.
Pierre Madry discovers what follows step by step on backdrop of Liberation:
[italics] It is the 6 Th. June 1944 . . . [/italics]
[page break]
[underlined] Pierre MADRY: [/underlined]
It is the 6 Th. June 1944 and the Allies are landing on the beaches of Calvados. The German troops which are advancing towards the beaches of Normandy are a serious threat to the success of the military operation. Our Allies decide to bomb the railway network at the rear of the front in an attempt to disorganise the progression of the enemy.
Therefore during the night of 9 Th. to 10 Th. of June 1944, a squadron made up of 106 Lancaster bombers flies over our region to bomb a rail junction in Etampes, South of Paris. The Lancaster No ND 533 from the 49 Th. squadron takes off from its base in Fiskerton at 21.36 hours. It is attacked by the FLAK or by night fighters and crashes down ablaze here, among the trees.
Due to lack of time or sufficient height, most of the members of the crew are unable to bail out. According to official reports, only two members out of the seven crew were able to do so. Of these two, one did not survive. The remaining bomb-aimer managed to get out and the local Resistance very quickly took care of him.
Unfortunately, he was discovered during his trip back to England only to be imprisoned in Fresnes near to Paris. He will then be deported to the concentration camp in Buchenwald where he died of sickness on the 18 Th. October 1944, just one day before he was to be transferred among other Allied pilots and crew members to an aviators prisoners war camp.
[page break]
[underlined] Air Commodore EUSTACE: [/underlined]
I would like to address the Lord Mayor, the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Town council and all those members of the war-veterans associations, Ladies and Gentlemen
It is a great privilege for me to represent the Ambassador of Great Britain and the Royal Air Force at this ceremony in memory of my country's pilots whose Lancaster ND 533 crashed in Lyons-la-Forêt.
My military colleagues of the Embassy and I attend many commemorations and each time they are dignified and moving occasions. We greatly admire the way in which you, the French, took in our wounded during the war and the way in which you faithfully honour every year the memory of your and our dead ones.
Your armed forces and ours fought alongside more than 50 years ago. The French pilots were with the British Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain, and our pilots, our soldiers and our sailors fought together with the members of the Resistance against the Germans in Europe and in North Africa. The three corps are once more side by side; five years ago during the Golf [sic] war, for the last 4 years in Bosnia and in the North and South of Iraq to protect the Kurds and the Arabs who live in the marshes. In most of the United Nations headquarters, the main motor of influence is French-British. Likewise our military relationship is the main vector of the defence of Europe and of the development of an European identity within the NATO. Hardly a week goes by without Army, Navy or Air Force units crossing the Channel. British officers are sent to French units and vice versa.
Our staff meet regularly on a ministerial level as do our Chiefs of staff and Field officers. Moreover the European French-British Air Group was established last October and will carry out its first operational exercise next September.
It is therefore not surprising that our Ministers and our Chiefs of staff expressed their satisfaction at the co-operation which reigns between us.
May this co-operation be for ever progressive and lasting. That is my wish, not only as far as defence is concerned but also in every field of our political and daily life.
The world is changing but one thing remains true: the friendship and the affection which bring together the men and women of France and Great Britain as it was the case during the Second World War. Today you are providing evidence of it. The State visit of President Jacques CHIRAC to Great-Britain two weeks ago was yet another example of the very warm relation between our two countries.
I thank you from deep down in my heart for being faithful to the memory of our deads [sic], to those who died in your country and particularly today for honouring the sacrifice made by these English pilots who lost their lives in Lyons-la-Forêt.
We must not forget them. Thank you.
[page break]
[underlined] Abbé PLANTÉ, parish priest of Lyons-la-forêt: [/underlined]
May the Grace of Jesus, giver of life and conqueror of death still be with you.
We are gathered around this cross and around this spray of flowers to honour our
British brothers who lost their lives here. With this commemoration, this spray of
flowers and our presence here today, we would like to show our gratitude. Through
our prayer, we entrust them to the risen Christ.
Lord, please give our brothers, who sacrificed their lives eternal rest. May the endless light of His Face shining on them. By the Christ, our Lord. Amen!
Let us pray once more that our brothers may be in the hands of our Father:
Our Father, which are in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen!
May for our brothers the promise of resurrection be fulfilled. "I am the resurrection and the life", says Lord Jesus. He who believes me, will have eternal life, even after death.
Go in the peace of Christ and give thanks to God.
Que la Grâce de Jésus, donateur de vie et vainqueur de la mort soit toujours avec vous. Nous voici rassemblés autour de cette croix et autour de cette gerbe en hommage à nos frères Britanniques qui sont tombés en ce lieu. Nous voulons, par notre démarche, notre présence et l'offrande de cette gerbe leur manifester notre gratitude, et par notre priéres les confier au Christ ressuscité.
Seigneur donne à nos frères, qui ont fait le sacrifice de leur vie, le repos éternel et que brille sur eux la lumière sans fin de Sa Face, par le Christ notre Seigneur. Amen!
Prions encore en remettant nos frères entre les mains du Père:
Notre Père, qui est aux cieux, que ton nom soit sanctifié, que ton règne vienne, que ta volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel. Donne nous aujourd'hui notre pain de ce jour, pardonne nous nos offenses, comme nous pardonnons aussi à ceux qui nous ont offensé, et ne nous soumets pas à le tentation, mais délivre nous du mal. Amen!
Que s'accomplisse pour nos frères la promesse de la résurrection. "Je suis la résurrection et la vie" dit Jésus. Celui qui croit en moi, même s'il meurt, vivra éternellement.
Allons dans la paix du Christ, et rendons grâce à Dieu.
Collection
Citation
“Pierre Madry raises his Hat to the Crew of a British Bomber,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 20, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/41110.
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