Leeuwarden

On the War Memorial Trail ….. At The Politiek Farm In Wons

/ On The War Memorial Trail With Pieter & Daria / Leave a comment

February 6, 2018. The basic story of PEI WWII pilot Elmer Bagnall MUTTART, whose name is listed on the Cenotaph outside the Borden-Carleton Legion, was told previously in this blog.  In the last blog entry, we visited Harlingen General Cemetery where Muttart is buried, and met with two volunteers from the Missing Airmen Memorial Foundation (See On the War Memorial Trail ….. At Harlingen General Cemetery).

Elmer Bagnall Muttart (2)

Elmer Bagnall Muttart (Photo from Canadian Virtual War Memorial at http://www.veterans.gc.ca)

With the previous soldiers whose graves we had visited, the cemetery or memorial was the last stop on the war memorial trail for that person.  In the case of Muttart, the journey continued.  The Missing Airmen Memorial Foundation had received an invitation for us to visit the Politiek farm, the first farm outside of the village of Wons, where Halifax L9561 crashed after being shot down.  The farm is still owned by the Politiek family and we were welcomed by Johannis Politiek and his wife Jantina.  Johannis’ father Cor, who was 9 years old in 1941 when the plane crashed on his parents’ dairy farm, was also present and gave his recollection of that fateful evening.

CIMG8032 Aug 28 2017 Politiek farm in Wons Pieter Jantina Johannes Alexander Cor Douwe

At the Politiek farm in Wons. From left to right: Pieter, Jantina Politiek, Johannis Politiek, Alexander Tuinhout, Cor Politiek, Douwe Drijver. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

Cor lived on the farm with his parents and siblings.  He was the youngest.  Everyone was in bed when they heard the commotion and saw that the plane was on fire as it was coming down, flying about 40 metres over the farmhouse roof.  Pieces of the plane were flying off until the plane crashed in the field a few hundred metres from the farmhouse, making a deep hole in the ground.  Due to the burning plane, no one could get to it until the next day, when the German authorities arrived.

When asked if anyone from the family had tried to approach the plane, Cor shook his head, explaining that the Dutch population were not allowed to approach, under threat of reprisals from their Nazi occupiers.

CIMG8038 Aug 28 2017 Politiek farm in Wons

Halifax L9561 crashed in the field to the right of the foreground of this photo. One can see the Politiek barn on the far right, and towards the far left one can see the houses and church steeple of the village of Wons. (Photo credit: Pieter Valkenburg)

Cor recalled that one of the survivors from the plane crash was on their farm, but unfortunately the Dutch Resistance had no means to safely evacuate anyone.  (Note: We do not know who this was.) Allied airmen had been instructed by the British government to surrender to the authorities, and that’s what they did.  As prisoners of war they were first brought to Leeuwarden, then to a prison in Amsterdam, and from there sent in groups to Frankfurt for interrogation before being transferred to the various prisoner of war camps.  Injured prisoners of war, such as John William DUFFIELD, were sent to the hospital in Leeuwarden, which was next to the German air base and quarters for German pilots.

scan0005 john duffield portrait

John William Duffield. (Photo courtesy of Lesley Newland)

In Duffield’s November 11, 2000 letter to Peter Hinchcliffe, who was researching German night fighters, he explained that “…Muttart had arrived back at Middleton St. George after a conversion course at Linton on Ouse a few days prior to 12th October.  His crew were down for an operation to Bremen.  It was then found that three members of the crew were very inexperienced.  They were the W/OP (wireless operator), Engineer, and Rear Gunner. As a result Hunt (W/OP), Roberts (Engineer), and myself flew with the crew. Those we were replacing travelled as passengers for experience.  Trayler was second pilot and Alexander navigator.

We had just crossed the Dutch coast when there was a loud bang and the inner port engine caught fire.  My microphone was smashed.  Muttart gave orders to prepare to abandon.  Shortly after this I could hear nothing, but saw parachutes opening below.  I then decided I had better leave and as I could not make it up the fuselage decided to get out of the turret...”

In a December 22, 2000 letter to Peter Hinchcliffe, Duffield continued with the events of that night, saying what he had learned many years afterward.  “…The night of the 12th October was a complete shambles, flying to Germany with no one in the front turret.  I only found this out after the war at a reunion.  After we had been hit I opened the turret door and leaned out as far as I could but could see nothing.  I then assumed that we must have been directly over the fighter.  Had there been someone in the front turret this situation could have been avoided….”  We’ll never know if this is true, as it was wartime and anything could change in a second.

Duffield’s January 2, 1946 letter to Louis Muttart, father of Elmer Muttart, gave a secondhand account of what happened after Duffield lost contact with the cockpit when his microphone was destroyed, and then he lost consciousness after being injured when the plane was attacked on October 12, 1941.  “…On my discharge from hospital I was unable to meet any others of the crew, but whilst on a ‘medical rehabilitation course’ some six months ago I met the wireless operator….”  The wireless operator was William Herbert HUNT.  All of the surviving crew had spent the remainder of the war in prisoner of war camps, and it was likely after returning to England that the crew were sent to the medical rehabilitation course that Duffield refers to.

Duffield continues his letter with what Hunt told him.  “…Evidently he was the last man to leave the machine alive.  Before jumping he noticed that the machine was only 800 feet up.  Happy (Muttart’s nickname) was quite all right and said that he would stick to the aircraft and make a crash land.  True to the rules of air and sea, the skipper remained.  Happy, however, marvellous pilot that he was, was unable to pull the machine out of the dive and crashed with it.  He died instantly….”

The crew members of Halifax L9561 were:

  • Pilot – F/S Elmer Bagnall MUTTART (age 23)
  • Co-Pilot – P/O Norman Frank TRAYLER (age 21)
  • Flight Engineer – Sgt David COTSELL (age 21)
  • Flight Engineer – Sgt Leslie Albert ROBERTS (age 25) (previously recorded as bomb aimer)
  • Navigator – Sgt Reginald William Purchase ALEXANDER (age 22)
  • Wireless Operator – Sgt William Herbert HUNT (age 22)
  • Gunner – Sgt George Henry PATTERSON (age 28)
  • Gunner – Sgt John William DUFFIELD (age 20)

Our thanks go to the families of Elmer Muttart and John Duffield for sharing the correspondence and allowing us to quote from the letters in this blog entry, and the previous one.  These first hand memories are so important in telling the stories of what happened during wartime.

Do you have a story or photos about Halifax L9561, its crew members, John Duffield, or Elmer Muttart?  You can share your comments and stories by emailing us at memorialtrail@gmail.com or by commenting on this blog.

UPDATE:  This project was completed in October 2019!

If you would like to make a donation in support of the commemoration plaque for Halifax L9561, which is being planned for placement in Wons, the information is below:

In Canada:  Cheques may be written out to TAHS and mailed to Tryon & Area Historical Society (TAHS), PO Box 38, Crapaud PE C0A 1J0.  In the subject line, identify your cheque as being for the “Muttart Memorial Fund”.  A charitable donation receipt will be sent to all donors.

In Europe: Bank transfers may be made to Stichting Missing Airmen Memorial Foundation, Bank Account # (IBAN) NL35ABNA0569579856, and state in the subject line “Attn D.S. Drijver for Halifax L9561”.

We’d now visited the graves of all the names listed on the Cenotaph outside the Borden-Carleton Legion who were buried in The Netherlands.  In our next blog entry, we visit a cemetery in Cologne, Germany and the grave of WWI soldier Lt. Henry Warburton STEWART.

© Daria Valkenburg

….Want to follow our research?….

If you are reading this posting, but aren’t following our research, you are welcome to do so.  Our blog address: https://onthewarmemorialtrail.com/

Front cover OnTheWarMememorialTrailinEurope4 countries, 6 weeks, 7,000 km – an unforgettable war memorial journey in Europe…. Daria’s book ‘No Soldier Buried Overseas Should Ever Be Forgotten‘ is available in print and e-book formats.  Net proceeds of book sales help support research costs and the cost of maintaining this blog. For more information see https://nosoldierforgotten.com/ 

You are also invited to subscribe to our YouTube Channel: On The War Memorial Trail With Pieter Valkenburg: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ591TyjSheOR-Cb_Gs_5Kw. 

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On the War Memorial Trail ….. At Harlingen General Cemetery

/ On The War Memorial Trail With Pieter & Daria / Leave a comment

February 3, 2018.  In July 2017, the County Line Courier published a story about PEI Pilot Elmer Bagnall Muttart (See CLC July 19 p20 WWII Pilot Saved Dutch Village), whose name is listed on the Cenotaph outside the Borden-Carleton Legion. This blog had two previous entries about him.  (See The Elmer Bagnall Muttart Story and The Media Interview With CBC ).  This blog entry is about our visit to his grave at Harlingen General Cemetery in The Netherlands.

Elmer Bagnall Muttart (2)

Elmer Bagnall Muttart (Photo from Canadian Virtual War Memorial at http://www.veterans.gc.ca)

Elmer Bagnall MUTTART, born March 14, 1918 in Cape Traverse, son of Louis (Lewis) Muttart and Annie Bagnall, was an RCAF pilot assigned to the 10th Operational Training Unit in England in March 1941, where he trained to fly a Whitley, a twin-engine medium bomber.  On May 19, 1941 he was transferred to the 78th Squadron at the air base in Middleton St. George and had 20 successful flights in enemy territory as either co-pilot or pilot.  On September 24, 1941 he transferred to the 76th Squadron for retraining to fly the new four engine Halifax plane, a heavy bomber.

On October 12, 1941, with his regular navigator Reg ALEXANDER and six other crew members, Muttart began his 21st mission into enemy territory.  The crew members of Halifax L9561 were:

  • Pilot – F/S Elmer Bagnall MUTTART (age 23)
  • Co-Pilot – P/O Norman Frank TRAYLER (age 21)
  • Flight Engineer – Sgt David COTSELL (age 21)
  • Bomb Aimer – Sgt Leslie Albert ROBERTS (age 25)
  • Navigator – Sgt Reginald William Purchase ALEXANDER (age 22)
  • Wireless Operator – Sgt William Herbert HUNT (age 22)
  • Gunner – Sgt George Henry PATTERSON (age 28)
  • Gunner – Sgt John William DUFFIELD (age 20)

Flying Halifax L9561 as part of a group of 100 bombers, they left England at 7:30 pm and headed towards their target – a bombing raid on Bremen, Germany.  At 10:15 pm, Muttart’s plane was shot upon.  He managed to steer the plane south, passing over the town of Harlingen, where the plane was shot a second time.  Just past the village of Wons, the plane crashed, but not before all of the crew members, except for Muttart, had parachuted out.  The crew members, all British, spent the rest of the war in various prisoner of war camps.

Muttart was buried in Harlingen General Cemetery, in the province of Friesland, on October 16, 1941 by the German military. This is a public cemetery with 67 Commonwealth burials from WW II, most of them airmen. 22 are unidentified. In addition, there are four unidentified war graves of other nationalities.

CIMG8076 Aug 28 2017 Harlingen Cemetery entrance gate

Entrance to Harlingen General Cemetery. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

When we went to pay our respects at Muttart’s grave with flags and a bouquet of flowers, we were joined by two members of the Missing Airmen Memorial Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of Allied planes shot down in The Netherlands during WW II.  The Foundation plans to honour the Halifax L9561 crew with a memorial plaque to be placed in Wons, near the site of the plane crash, and is raising funds for an event planned for October 2018.

We thought a Canadian contribution towards this would be a fitting tribute to honour Muttart, and the Tryon and Area Historical Association in Prince Edward Island agreed to help with a fundraising project, “Muttart Memorial Fund” for donations made within Canada.  Funds raised will be transferred to the Missing Airmen Memorial Foundation.

“…The Tryon & Area Historical Society is pleased to sponsor Pieter and Daria Valkenburg for carrying out the Elmer Bagnall Muttart Memorial Project. The Society will also administer the receiving of donations to go toward the cost of the Memorial. Registered Charity tax receipts will be issued…“, says Jack Sorensen, Chair of the Tryon & Area Historical Society Inc.

Meeting with Alexander Tuinhout, Secretary for the Foundation, and Douwe Drijver, Treasurer for the Foundation, at Harlingen General Cemetery at Muttart’s grave was a fitting way to get acquainted as we begin to work on this joint project.

CIMG8019 Aug 28 2017 Harlingen Cemetery Pieter Alexander Douwe by Muttarts grave

Pieter on the left with Alexander Tuinhout, centre, and Douwe Drijver on the right, at Elmer Muttart’s grave in Harlingen General Cemetery. We had brought along a Canadian flag for the Foundation to use in their commemoration services. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

CIMG8014 Aug 28 2017 Harlingen Cemetery Muttarts grave

Grave of Elmer Bagnall Muttart in Harlingen General Cemetery. (Photo credit: Pieter Valkenburg)

One of the stories we had heard about Muttart’s burial is that he was buried with “full military honours” by the German military.  We had no idea if that was true, until we received a copy of a letter written by Gunner Sgt John William DUFFIELD, one of Muttart’s crew members.  Duffield was injured during the plane crash and ended up in a hospital.

John Duffield in uniform

John Duffield in his flight suit. (Photo courtesy of Lesley Newland)

In a January 2, 1946 letter to Muttart’s father, Louis Muttart, Duffield wrote what happened:

“Elmer, better known as ‘Happy’ on the squadron, was not my skipper, but for the fateful night of October 12th, I was loaned to his crew to fulfill my duties as a rear gunner.  He was my own skipper’s friend, and as he was such a good pilot, I was glad to be flying with him although it was only for the night.

We were on our way to Bremen and just over the Dutch coast when we were attacked from underneath.  I had my oxygen mask and microphone blown off my face and was hit on the left leg, hand, and body.  From this time onwards, I was out of communication with the crew.

We finally had two fighters attacking us and I managed to get one of them.  Our inner port engine caught fire, but by wonderful flying, Happy managed to keep the machine from spinning, but was unable to keep it from diving.  As a result he told us to jump from it.”

Halifax_L9561_Wons-2

Estimated path taken by Halifax L9561 on October 12, 1941 after they were hit and diverted towards Wons. (Drawing courtesy of the Missing Airmen Memorial Foundation)

Duffield continued in his 1946 letter, “By this time I was paralyzed up the left side of my body and in trying to jump from the rear turret, my right leg became jammed.  It was only when I pulled my ‘chute that I freed myself.  I then became unconscious.”

In a November 11, 2000 letter to Peter Hinchcliffe, who was researching German night fighters of WW II, Duffield wrote that “I came to lying on the ground, surrounded by German officers and Dutch civilians.  An ambulance soon arrived and I was on my way to hospital.  The following day, a tall, good looking German officer arrived and introduced himself as Helmut Lent.” The hospital was in nearby Leeuwarden.  Major Helmut LENT was the commander of 4./NJG 1 squadron, stationed at the airfield in  Leeuwarden.   A member of Lent’s squadron, Lt. Leopold FELLERER was responsible for shooting down the plane.

Duffield wrote about Lent in his 1946 letter to Muttart’s father, saying that Lent “later became the crack night fighter ace of the German Air Force.  He met his death in June 1944.  He asked me to send you his deepest sympathy for your son’s death.  Although he was our enemy, I can assure you that he meant it.  Happy was given a full military funeral and all arrangements were made by this pilot.  He bought a wreath for me on behalf of the crew in red, white, and blue flowers.”

Alexander Tuinhout and Douwe Drijver told us that over 400 Allied planes crashed in Friesland and surrounding water, plus 150 German planes.  Most of the time, there were no survivors of plane crashes, making the 7 survivors of Halifax L9561 unusual.

In the next blog entry, we visit the Politiek farm in Wons, site of the plane crash, and speak with Cor Politiek, who was 9 years old in 1941 when the plane crashed on his parents’ dairy farm.

Do you have a story or photos about Halifax L9561, its crew members, John Duffield, or Elmer Muttart?  You can share your comments and stories by emailing us at memorialtrail@gmail.com  or by commenting on this blog.

UPDATE:  This project was completed in October 2019!

If you would like to make a donation in support of the commemoration plaque for Halifax L9561, the information follows below:

In Canada:  Cheques may be written out to TAHS and mailed to Tryon & Area Historical Society (TAHS), PO Box 38, Crapaud PE C0A 1J0.  In the subject line, identify your cheque as being for the “Muttart Memorial Fund”.  A charitable donation receipt will be sent to all donors.

In Europe: Bank transfers may be made to Stichting Missing Airmen Memorial Foundation, Bank Account # (IBAN) NL35ABNA0569579856, and state in the subject line “Attn D.S. Drijver for Halifax L9561”.

© Daria Valkenburg

….Want to follow our research?….

If you are reading this posting, but aren’t following our research, you are welcome to do so.  Our blog address: https://onthewarmemorialtrail.com/

Front cover OnTheWarMememorialTrailinEurope4 countries, 6 weeks, 7,000 km – an unforgettable war memorial journey in Europe…. Daria’s book ‘No Soldier Buried Overseas Should Ever Be Forgotten‘ is available in print and e-book formats.  Net proceeds of book sales help support research costs and the cost of maintaining this blog. For more information see https://nosoldierforgotten.com/ 

You are also invited to subscribe to our YouTube Channel: On The War Memorial Trail With Pieter Valkenburg: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ591TyjSheOR-Cb_Gs_5Kw. 

Never miss a posting!  Subscribe below to have each new story from the war memorial trail delivered to your inbox.