May 1, 2014
The South Burnett delegates visiting the Netherlands to honour former Murgon resident Patrick Tiernan have arrived safely in Europe and have begun their visit to significant war cemeteries.
The group yesterday visited Uden war cemetery in the central Netherlands to place poppies on the graves of four airmen killed on June 17, 1944.
The four were crewmates of Flt Sgt Tiernan and were buried by the Germans with military honours at a municipal cemetery about 45km south of where their Halifax aircraft came down.
They were:
- Pilot Officer Alan Crain (RAAF), age 21
- Flying Officer Trevor Davies (RAF), age unknown
- Sergeant Victor Gledhill (RAF), 19; and
- Warrant Officer Alexander Braid (RAAF), 26
However the bodies of Flight Sergeant Patrick Tiernan (RAAF), 29, and his crewmate Flight Sergeant Alfred Burns (RAAF), 21, were retrieved by Dutch citizens and buried at Dodewaard.
The South Burnett delegation will be in Dodewaard for Dutch Remembrance Day on May 4.
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