BOZ War Cemetery 23 June 2022

Bergen-op-Zoom War Cemetery, The Netherlands - Funeral Ceremony

On Thursday 23rd June 2022 a funeral service took place for the crew of

Wellington Ic T2990 - 22 June 1941 – 311 Sqdn
Took off 2316 22 June 1941 from East Wretham to bomb the city of Bremen, Germany. Shot down by a night- fighter and crashed at Nieuwe Niedorp. The Wellington's pilot, Flight Sgt Vilem Bufka, parachuted out of the burning plane, broke a leg on landing and was captured by the Germans. He was imprisoned in Colditz Castle, returned to Czechoslovakia in August 1945. He wrote a memoir - Bomber T2990 Gone Silent - and died in 1967.

The recovery of the wreckage of the aircraft from a meadow in the community of Hollands Kroon in the Netherlands took place in June 2021 as part of an official national program for the recovery of aircraft wrecks. The excavations are managed by an expert team from the Royal Netherlands Armed Forces. During the excavation, they recovered human remains, and it has now been established that these belong to the five missing casualties. As members of the Royal Air Force, they are buried with military honours in a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemetery in the Netherlands, with both Czech and British representation. Their graves will be marked with CWGC headstones for Czech members of the RAF.

Please note that these casualties were previously commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

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