For over fifty years my Father did not know where his brother found his last resting place.
There were three Adair brothers. Harold the eldest went into the Army in Burmah, my Father, Peter who was the youngest, went into the Army and served in India and Stanleywho served in the RAF. You can imagine how their Mother must have felt with all her sons involved in the war.
The story of my fathers war and Harold I will leave to another day. This story concerns Stanley, a wireless operator, who sadly lost his life on the 13th August 1943. High in the skys over Germany his aircraft, a Lancaster Bomber, was destroyed losing the entire crew. The Bomber was on a raid with many other aircraft and came down at Russelheim. We know today that the crew were found by local people and were buried in a churchyard there.
My father of course was in India fighting his war. The war in India is often referred to as The Forgotten War and my father always says that he was one of the last to be demobbed. When he got home he arrived to find a nation trying to recover from the horror and tradgedy of the war. Everyone had lost someone so it goes without saying that although they never forgot they also did not talk about it much.
Stanley had married a local girl and I know that for a while they lived in Moss Bay. I know that is young and pregnant wife will have got the telegram. Sadly the family did not seem to keep in touch so some of the detail was lost as people put things behind them and got on with life.
I grew up believing as my father did that his brothers aircraft had come down somewhere in the North Sea. It was the stuff of family legend and it seems incredible now as I write this that we did not know the truth. I have for many many years observed Remebrance Sunday. As a Girl Guide I first took part in the Rembrance Parade in the town. My Parents would also attend. Like many they would take part and silently remember those they had lost.
I have been a Councillor for over twenty years and have continued my annual act of remembrance although this time I am in the Civic Party and often lay a wreath. As a member of the Town Council I became involved in discussions to become twinned with a town in Germany. I am one of the four people who first went to Selm in Nordrhein Westfalia, Germany. The Twinning Committee had organised a visit to Selm to visit the Christmas Market. I was astonished to learn that my father was to go. He had rarely travelled abroad and certainly had never been to Germany. It was during the planning stages that a friend of mine approached me and told me he had been doing some research about my Stanley. It was then that I heard for the first time that Stanley had lost his life in the skies above Germany. What he also told me was that after the war bodies of fallen allies were exhumed and then buried in military cemeteries. Stanley is buried in Kleve on the Belgium German border not far from that famous bridge at Arnhem.
I resolved that we would go there if we could. I told my Mother but not my Father. One of Brothers agreed to join us. The coach company told me that if necessary they would take us to Kleve during our long weekend stay. We told my father on the coach on the way to Selm. By this time my friend had done some further research and was able to give him further information about how his brother and other crew had lost their lives.
The Stadt Direktor in Selm will always have a place in my heart. He provided his car and driver to take us to the Cemetery. It was a bitterly cold day with snow on the ground and there was not a soul in sight. It was strange to see all the footprints in the snow in this very peaceful place. I imagined the ghostsof our war dead on a daily patrol. I had a problem on arrival because I had no idea where Stanley was buried and Kleve is a big place. I heard my Mother worry about this and I heard my Father say to her that Barbara was sure to have a plan. It was a heart sinking moment.
It turned out to be easier than I expected. There was a rather grand archway into the Cemetery and in the arch was a iron door in a little recess. I was able to open it and find books with records oof everyone buried there and where they were to be found. Stanley was buried with his fellow crewmen.
My father removed his great overcoat to reveal he was wearing his suit and a medal I had never seen before. He laid the wreath at the big memorial stone and it joined dozens of others that had been placed there. We walked through the cemetery looking at the thousands of crosses and stones and the names of the men and occasionally women who were buried there. They were so very young.
We finally found Stanley's last resting place and my father laid a wooden cross on each of the graves of that lost Lancaster Bomber. My father was finally able to pay his respects to his brother. He is 86 now and I do not expect he will pass that way again.
My family are grateful for those that helped us find Stanley again. Especially to the German town of Russellheim for giving him a decent burial. Finally to the kindness of the people of Selm who made sure my Father could see his brothers grave.
11th November 2010
http://www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/binyon.htm
FOOTNOTE
For many years veterans in our Town were concerned that there was no permanent memorial with the names of those men and women who had lost their lives in WW1 and WW2 and later confilcts. The names of our war dead from the two great wars were buried inside the cenataph during its construction. Finally they got their wish and we now have a permanent memorial inside St Michael's Church. Wireless Operator Stanley Adair heads the list of the names of those who paid the ulimate sacrifice for our country during WW2.
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