Decades-long mystery solved as lost bomber crew identified
Four WWII airmen from a lost Lancaster bomber were identified and honoured at a ceremony in the Netherlands after an 82-year search.
A ceremony at CWGC’s Venray War Cemetery in the Netherlands formally named four previously unknown airmen whose graves had been marked ‘unknown’ for decades. Flying Officer Leslie Markland Hough of the RAAF, Pilot Officer John Henry Tales of the RAFVR, and Sergeants Henry Charles Burnside and John Lawson of the RAFVR were identified after post-war administrative errors obscured their identities. The four died when their Lancaster bomber crashed in Germany on 8 December 1944 during a raid on the Neerbeck oil plant in the Ruhr region.
The crew of Lancaster PD374 departed RAF Methwold in Norfolk as part of a force of over 130 aircraft targeting the German facility. Three crew members survived as prisoners of war, while the remaining four perished in the crash. Pilot Officer Tales, born in Sheffield in 1917, had completed a full operational tour before volunteering to return to frontline duties in August 1944. His family attended the ceremony, expressing gratitude for the long-overdue recognition of their uncle’s service.
Flying Officer Hough, the Australian captain of the Lancaster, reportedly remained at the controls of the burning aircraft to allow others to escape. Sergeant Burnside was noted for his professionalism and immaculate appearance, while Sergeant Lawson, known as ‘Geordie’, came from a mining family in County Durham. Eyewitness accounts and historical records were used to confirm their identities after decades of uncertainty.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission conducted the service, which was attended by family members and local representatives who had adopted the graves. The Commission stated it would continue to maintain the graves with care, allowing families to visit known burial sites in perpetuity. The ceremony marked the resolution of one of Bomber Command’s wartime mysteries after an 82-year search.