70 years ago this week on the night of the 16&17 of May one of the most daring raids on Germany took place on the Rhur Valley to breach the The Möhne and Edersee Dams. I had already done some work looking into the background of this raid in looking for the remains of a dam used in the development tests of the bouncing bomb at the Nant-Y-Gro.
Some of the photos I took there were used in Britian at War Magazine for the 70 anniversary edition featuring the raid. By chance while talking with a guy at work I was told one of the men from the raid was buried at a local church nearby. I felt I had to visit and see the grave of one of the people who made history. What I found was a bit more of a surprise than I expected.
St Michael & All Angels was in Clifton Hampden and I had visited it a few years ago.
Looking around the churchyard it was not looking before I came across some commonwealth War Graves
Then to my surprise I came across
Who is buried with his wife.
After looking round some more I finally found grave of David John Shannon DSO DFC RAAF 27.5.1922 - 8.4.1992 RAF 106 & 617 Squadron THE DAMBUSTERS.
I felt honored to have visited the graves of such men.
Beside his grave is that of is wife Ann
St Michael & All Saints is a beautiful churchyard with a view over the Thames. I will revisit and post some photos of the church inside which is just as superb.
10 comments:
Fascinating post with wonderful pictures as always.
Thank you for linking up with Cemetery Sunday
Beneath Thy Feet
This is a thoughtful post - very nice to see these photos and think of these people.
Always a pleasure
The Dambusters was one of those storys will go down in history along with the taking of Pegasus Bridge. I felt it was an honour to visit the graves of peole you read about.
What an honour it would be! Wonderful photos, Bill!
I am not as familiar with this battle as some others (so thanks for the links), but I can say I share that inner thrill of finding the gravesite of a familiar name from history.
As a school kid it was the stuff you loved to read about Guy Gibson VC you never thought of the others who were as much a hero as him. Dave Shannon was one of the lucky ones he came back and survived the war many did not.
What an amazing place, and beautiful photos.
It's a quiet village church and churchayard, we are luck to have them in the area. Thanks for the comment.
I lived very close to the Mohne Dam for several years, the Dambusters mission must have seemed a very daunting task as it is huge. Interesting to see the headstone of one of the crew, thanks for sharing.
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