Crew Lancaster LM508

[Icare9]

Thank you, Simon

I contacted Eric who had posted on the other Forum and his clarification probably links in with the reason Corine wants to contact relatives of the LM508 crew.

His reply to me:-

Thank you for your message regarding Sgt. John Keogh. First of all I must tell you I was not personally involved with the effort to recover his remains (and aircraft). The excavation however was done by the same crew that also did the recovery of the Halifax (and crew) I was involved with at Wapenveld, hence my personal interest in it.

The Lancaster's location had long been public, and so was the very likely presence of Sgt. John Keogh's remains in the aircraft since the surviving crews gave testimonies that he was already dead by the time the others abandoned the stricken aircraft. Since it hit the ground intact, and at a high angle, there were no other options. It was, by the way, a very compact excavation, roughly the span of a Lancaster wide, but almost 70 foot deep, in marshy reclaimed land.

His remains were indeed found during the recovery (which was also attended by relatives of his), and formally identified shortly afterwards by the BIDKL (the recovery and identification unit of the Dutch army). They are now in secure storage, and in September the council of Werkendam (where the aircraft came down) approved a request by the CWGC and War Graves Foundation to a formal burial at the cemetery in Werkendam alongside his fellow crew member Sgt. T.H. Duff (the bomb aimer).

A date for the service has not yet been made public, but it is expected this will take place early this year. (my bolding)

Hope this information helps

That explains, to me at least, why Corine needs to locate other crew members relatives, to allow them the option to attend Sgt J Keoghs long overdue interment beside his comrade.

Any further help, chaps would be appreciated. I'm in no way related or otherwise involved, simply put some of the pieces together.

I assume the crew would have completed Liberation Questionnaires after the War, perhaps that may have addresses etc?