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Opijnen Protestant Churchyard

Opijnen, Neerijnen Municipality, Gelderland, Netherlands

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  • Get directions Opijnen, Gelderland, Netherlands
    Coordinates: 51.82802, 5.30038
  • Cemetery ID:

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In the Opijnen Protestant Churchyard, eight American airmen are buried. That's remarkable because almost all other American casualties are buried or remembered in the American War Cemeteries or in the U.S.A. By special request of the people of Opijnen and the relatives of these casualties, their graves are still in Opijnen.

The gravestones are different from the marble crosses used in the American War Cemeteries. They are the same as used in the great "National Cemeteries" in the U.S.A. like Arlington National Cemetery.

After a bombing raid on the Messerschmitt factory in Kassel (Germany), the crew tried to get back to their base in England. But at 11:00, their B17 with the 91 Bomb Group, American Air Force with the name 'Man-O-War', was shot down by German fighterplanes. The plane crashed in Opijnen. Eight of the ten crewmembers died on impact. These eight men are buried in this cemetery.

Source
Text:
Fedor de Vries & Paul Moerenhout
Photos:
Paul Moerenhout (1) & Fedor de Vries (2)









In the Opijnen Protestant Churchyard, eight American airmen are buried. That's remarkable because almost all other American casualties are buried or remembered in the American War Cemeteries or in the U.S.A. By special request of the people of Opijnen and the relatives of these casualties, their graves are still in Opijnen.

The gravestones are different from the marble crosses used in the American War Cemeteries. They are the same as used in the great "National Cemeteries" in the U.S.A. like Arlington National Cemetery.

After a bombing raid on the Messerschmitt factory in Kassel (Germany), the crew tried to get back to their base in England. But at 11:00, their B17 with the 91 Bomb Group, American Air Force with the name 'Man-O-War', was shot down by German fighterplanes. The plane crashed in Opijnen. Eight of the ten crewmembers died on impact. These eight men are buried in this cemetery.

Source
Text:
Fedor de Vries & Paul Moerenhout
Photos:
Paul Moerenhout (1) & Fedor de Vries (2)









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  • Added: 21 Nov 2010
  • Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2378595