Re Dedication at CWGC Berlin War Cemetery, Heerstrasse, Berlin.

Today I received information from the MOD that there will be a are dedication service here in Berlin at 11 am on Wednesday 27th April 2016.

We have discovered the identity of some unknown airmen who are buried in communal graves in Berlin War Cemetery. We have unfortunately not been able to pinpoint which crew members are contained within the grave but we do know that they came from Lancaster JB640 (156 Squadron) and Halifax LK709 (77 Squadron). We are now in the process of changing the headstone to reflect that the graves contain the crew members of these two planes. We are planning to hold a rededication service on 27 April �C 1100hrs for Lancaster JB640 and 1400 for Halifax LK709.

The rededication services will concentrate of commemorating all of the crew members for each aircraft lost during WW2. We have several family members attending, including the widow of one of the pilots. The Defence Attaché will also be present.

Wreaths will be layer and our Berlin Branch of the RBL will be in attendance.
Anyone finding themselves in Berlin on Monday 25th and Wednesday 27th are welcome to attend ANZAC Day 10.30 hrs and the Rededication on Wednesday, both events being at the same location on Heerstrasse at the CWGC.

Regards
Tom

 

Tom,Thanks for posting

On another point regarding RAF aircrew,there were a number of RAF dead interred in the former GDR.I remember an emotional programme screened just after the wall came down.It was based on two sisters searching out where their brother had been buried in East Germany...the CWGC had not been allowed to access the war graves so the two sisters were the first British to visit the cemetery.

They finally found him through research,which I cannot recollect.They found their brother buried in a neglected civilian cemetery.I think the location was east of Berlin.

I am not sure if dead interred in such civilian cemeteries have been relocated to concentrated cemeteries as the Berlin War Cemetery.

One recollection of their late brother was his continual singing of "Paperdoll" which was a favourite during the war years....a very emotional documentary.

Per Ardua Ad Astra.

 

Peter's post as below would appear to be related to Tom's post #1

http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/MoD-search-families-Second-World-War-pilots/story-29097612-detail/story.html