On March 31, 1944 at 9:45 p.m., an English bomber plane “Auro Lancaster” registered LM 425-BQ-N took off from the North Killingholme base in Great Britain, heading to Nuremberg, with seven crew members on board.
This aircraft is part of the 550th squadron of the Royal Air Force formed in November 1943. These squadrons are made up of heavy bombers intended for the annihilation of German industry. Every night planes take off from numerous British airfields, gather in the sky in formations of several hundred units and head towards German industrial zones.
Arriving above our town, the Lancaster was hit by fire from a German night fighter. A fire broke out on board but the pilot managed to bring his plane over an uninhabited area and dropped his bombs. It crashed near Lake Gileppe, at a place called “Cœur de Marie”, without the crew being able to eject. The impact is terrible. The debris is scattered over hundreds of meters. Sergeants Arthur Jefferies, Robert Paxton, Harold Simpson and James Whitley perished. They are buried in the Herverlee military cemetery. The other three, Sergeants D.S. Jeffrey, S.A. Keirle and W.G. Upton, were taken prisoner and taken to prison camps. They were released in 1945.
Of the 125,000 Royal Air Force airmen who flew the bombing missions, 55,573 never returned.
In 2008, 2 residents of Jalhay heard about this Lancaster that had fallen near their home. They then decide to do research in order to erect a stele in memory of these young men who fought for our freedom. Villagers who, in 1944, had arrived there just before the Germans, gave them valuable information to find the exact spot where the Lancaster fell. They then erect a stone stele and attach a commemorative plaque to it. Frédéric Thomson, a talented sculptor from Jalhay, offered him a work on which we can see the plane swooping down.
The official inauguration took place on April 9, 2016, in the presence of Ambassador Alison Rose, the Colonel Military Commander of the Province of Liège Crucifix as well as the municipal authorities.