Halifax, LW506, 28.04.1944

Westhoek crash card number: WH-50; SGLO Loss Chart number: T-3635

Halifax III, LW506, Postbaan

Halfway the Postbaan a Halifax III crashed on April 28, 1944. The crew of the Halifax consisted of 7 men, a pilot, an on-board technician, a navigator, a bomb rider, a radio operator and also a gunner and then 2 gunners. All crew members died.

The names of the crew members:

Function Rank Name Mil. Rnr. Air Force Cemetery Grave

Pilot P / O R. Earnshaw 172946 RAF Bergen op Zoom 13 C 7-10

Flight

Engineer Sgt CA Hensey 1605140 RAF Bergen op Zoom 13 C 7-10

Navigator Sgt RJ Sampson 1515480 RAF Bergen op Zoom 13 C 7-10

Bomb

Aimer P / O J.Ö. Riordan 176158 RAF Bergen op Zoom 13 C - 12

Wireless

Operator F / Sgt W. Mabon 1496442 RAF Bergen op Zoom 13 C 7-10

AirGunner Sgt WA Pullen 924992 RAF Bergen op Zoom 13 C 7-10

Air

Gunner F / Sgt JA Murphy 427394 RAAF Bergen op Zoom 13 C 7-10

Here above Ö Riordan left and right. In the middle are brothers.

Here above Ö Riordan left and right. In the middle are brothers. John would study at university engineering was his preference. However, he was drafted into duty and was sent to Spain to fight under Franco. John ö Riordan His studies were canceled because when he returned from Spain the second world war was imminent. In Ireland he grew up on a farm in the south of the country. The farm has been in the family for 150 years, unfortunately the farm was sold at the end of 2020 because there was no more succession. We have now contacted John's great-nephew. Vicktor ö Gallaghan. During a visit to the Netherlands at the cemetery in Bergen op Zoom, he took a seed from a tree next to John's grave and took it to Ireland and planted it in his hometown in memory of his great uncle. Let's hope that tree will grow big and strong and after a suffocating period of the second world war may now bring oxygen and a bright future.

Before John Ó Riordan entered British service, he was employed by Franco's army in Spain.