I never knew my uncle Jack, who was a bomber pilot in the Second World War.
He was shot down whilst returning from a raid over Germany in the early hours of 2 June, 1942.
There was a crew of six in the Wellington that crashed that night near the village of Estinnes au Mont, in Belgium.
Flight Sergeant Jack Walsh was the skipper .... three Australians and two Englishmen made up the rest of the crew.
Last month, on the day before Anzac Day, I visited Jack's grave in Charleroi, Belgium.
The day was bleak and cold. The sky was overcast.
We easily located the Commonwealth War Graves section of the Charleroi communal cemetery but it took almost ten minutes to find the headstones of the six airmen.
Two ravens flew overhead and made an ugly, mournful sound.
Light rain began to fall.
I had brought no bouquet of flowers but my friend Hedley gave me a commemorative poppy lapel pin to place at Jack's grave.
It was a moving experience.
The attrition rate of bomber crews was such that Uncle Jack had written to my mother (his sister) in fatalistic terms.
John Francis Walsh was just 22 years old.
Yes, Tony, I can imagine how moving it must have been for you to find the grave of your uncle who died so young!
ReplyDeleteMy paternal family comes from Northern France and, sadly, I'm familiar with these WWI and WWII, mainly Australian, British, French and German military cemeteries. They're all over the place, notably in Belgium and the Somme area where I come from.
A few years ago I went to Péronne, in the Somme area, to give paintings and drawings by my grandfather who was born in a nearby village to the local museum. After he received all these objets d'art, the curator took me on a tour of the Somme's battlegrounds and of these mostly WWI military cemeteries. It was an extremely moving experience.