VETS 6 | Monuments to 14 Downed Airmen

L to R: John Ellyatt, John Tepper Marlin and Cpl. Pamela Turney,
pointing  to the crew members to whom they are related.

A fine new monument was unveiled on the 70th Anniversary of the downing of the MZ 684 Halifax bomber, at Entrammes, near Laval, Mayenne, France.

Three of the seven crew members were represented by their families at the unveiling: John Ellyatt's son John Ellyatt, Willem van Stockum's nephew John Tepper Marlin and Fred Beales's great-niece Cpl. Pamela Turney.

In 2011, four of the seven crew members were represented by family at the Vaufleury Cemetery. The additional family member was Robin  Sumner (nephew of Gilbert Daniel).

The seven crew members listed on the monument are:
Flying Officer Willem Jacob Van Stockum, Pilot (hero of Time Bomber–see below)
Flying Officer John Ellyatt, Flight Engineer
Flying Officer Gilbert Daniel, Navigator
Flying Officer Robert Keith Marshall, Bomb Aimer
Sergeant Alfred Charles Perkins, Wireless Operator AG
Pilot Officer Fred Beales RCAF, Upper Gunner
Sergeant Albert Mason, Rear Gunner

Top photo shows two of the relatives of the crew of the MZ 684, JT Marlin (your
blogger), nephew of Willem van Stockum, and Pamela Turney, great-niece of Fred
Beales. The newly unveiled monument to the 70-year-old crash is in Entrammes.

Two monuments were unveiled on June 10 in memory of the two planes downed that early morning on a mission in the Laval area.

One was at a pear farm in Entrammes, Mayenne. It was dedicated to the MZ 684 Halifax bomber and its crew. The pilot was Willem J. van Stockum, my uncle.

The other was at Saint-Berthevin, dedicated to the MZ 532 Halifax bomber and its crew.

Comment

Uncle Willem was the person who brought my parents together. He roomed with my father at Trinity College, Dublin in 1929-32. When my father discovered that Willem had a sister, he set about wooing her.

They were married in 1932, had their first child in 1934 (my sister Olga will be 80 this year), and ten years after they were married they got me (#5 out of 6 children).

When Uncle Willem died in 1944, a light went out in the lives of my parents. It was unspeakably tragic for them and for my Granny who lived with us.

"Time Bomber", by Robert
Wack, centered on the life
of W. J. van Stockum.

When we came to visit the graves in 1954, the 13 RAF-administered British and Commonwealth graves had tombstones. My uncle's grave just had a simple wooden cross. I remember my mother burst into tears because she couldn't understand why her brother was singled out for not having a tombstone. It turns out it was because Willem was still a Dutch citizen (he was seconded from the Royal Canadian Air Force but he had been working in the United States on what is now called a "green card" and had applied for American citizenship). The Dutch Government had asked my mother what she wanted to have on the tombstone and she said: "Greater love hath no man..." The tombstone arrived in due course, but my mother never came back to see it. My brother Randal and I have been back several times. The Dutch tombstone is very impressive, but it does not have on it the epitaph that my mother requested.

On the other hand, my uncle is the only one so far of the 14 members of the crew to have a book written about him - Time Bomber, written by a U.S. Army Major and pediatrician, Dr. Robert Wack. I recommend the book for three groups of people: (1) those interested in the European theater of World War II, (2) those interested in the scientists who have examined time travel, and (3) those who are interested in the motivation and challenges of a soldier's and airman's life.  The story is based mainly on factual material about my uncle and the life he led until it was ended. The additional elements that have been added to the story, what we could call the sci-fi meta-story, make several important points that are hard to discuss any other way.

RAF PILOT | W. J. van Stockum's Last Letter Home, June 7, 1944

RAF Pilot Willem J. van
Stockum in uniform.

June 7, 1944

[RAF 10th Bomber Squadron, Melbourne, Yorkshire, England.]

Dear Mother,

I am curious to know whether you have noted the date of my last letter. I cannot tell you how great the satisfaction was to be one of those who dropped the first bombs during the Normandy invasion.

Officially we did not know it was to start on June 5 [the planes providing D-Day support would have taken off from England before midnight], but the instructions we got, the mysterious doings, our route and what we could expect while under way, made us fairly sure that this was The Day.

Crew of the Halifax MZ 684 probably in early June 1944.
Back row: R. K. Marshall, A. Mason, G. Daniel, F. Beales.
Front row: A. C. Perkins, W. J. Van Stockum, J. Ellyatt.
(Photo is not of the same crew that flew on June 10.)

We did our job in difficult circumstances, although there was not much resistance from the targets.

I am free tonight and am glad of it, for the pressure is intense and we have not had a moment’s rest in the past few days. Each of our missions requires hours of preparation. The flight operation itself takes six hours and after that there are debriefings etc. Then a meal, to bed, sleep, and again preparations.

Of course we did not know beforehand that it would be rather easy. The strain on the nerves is a real thing–it makes your breathing go faster. It will not be so easy in future, as the Germans get more information.

But I would not want to miss this time for anything, and I am very thankful that I resisted the temptation to go to the other station, where Bierens de Haanals is, for then I would now be between two squadrons and perhaps have missed all this.

My crew is perfect–calm, matter of fact, and one cannot find among them any signs of being nervous. I sometimes have the feeling I am the only one who is–but perhaps they think the same thing of me.

I feel everyone here is experiencing a great upsurge in morale. The B.B. (Body Building) programs are better and more imaginative. The whole station comes to see us off with their thumbs up in the air and this is a pleasant experience.

I know you and Hilda must be feeling the same way and understand how wonderful it is, so invigorating.

May 2011. Families of five of the seven crew members on the Halifax MZ 684
were represented at the Vaufleury Cemetery in Laval. Willem's tombstone
is round at top, from the Dutch Government.

[Page ends. Possibly the hand-written pages that constituted the “Soldier’s Creed”, which is reprinted at the end of Time Bomber,  followed the fragment and were removed. The following concluding fragment was nearby in the folder of Dutch letters left behind by my mother, Willem's brother. The translator from the Dutch thought it “not very probable” that it is the end of the same letter, but it might be.]

My roommate is a Belgian pilot aged 40 who doesn’t speak English. I spend much of my time with him, which is very good for my French. If only you could hear all the fantastic stories people tell here, more interesting than the most terrifying spy thriller!! My friend came here a few months ago and was in the Resistance in Belgium.

Did I write you that in London I saw Aunt Mia quite often? We sympathized with each other about our tastes in literature. We talked about Dostoyevsky and she told me you had written such a wonderful article about him. How nice there are people who remember this article. I would like to see it some time. I long to read it.

Very, very much love from your son,

Willem

[Note: His plane, the Halifax MZ 684, was shot down on June 10, 1944. The crew is buried in the Laval Valfleury Cemetery and a monument to them was erected on June 10, 2014 in Entrammes, near Laval. The letter above was written in Dutch, as Willem wrote in Dutch to his mother, Olga Emily Boissevain van Stockum, and in English to his sister, Hilda van Stockum. The letter was translated in 2003 as a favor for me by the late Dr. Engelien de Booy, cousin of HvS and daughter of Hilda Boissevain de Booy. Olga and Hilda Boissevain were very close–the two middle sisters of six. Before they had children, they promised each other they would name their first daughter after the other, and they did so. This seems to be the last letter Willem wrote home. The letter went to Washington, D.C. where Willem’s mother and sister lived. Willem’s praise for the courage of the crew will be fully appreciated by the relatives of the crew members. Five of the seven crew members on the MZ 684 participated in a family reunion in Laval in 2011. See www.boissevain.us/ and click on Willem_van_Stockum - JTM]