On a bicycle, on the way home from folk dancing, the sky above Peder and Maren Elisabeth Hansen suddenly lights up. As so many times before, the calm night has been interrupted by British planes, but this time is different. Peder fears for a moment that the town of Hoven is in flames!
It is February 14, 1945. A British airplane has been shot down. The plane, a Halifax, has been delivering sea mines over Denmark and is on its way home to England - but before it gets that far, it is hit by a German plane and one side bursts into flames. Five of the plane's seven crew members manage to parachute out, but the two machine gunners don't make it...
The German occupying forces buried the two gunners at the crash site and placed a simple cross. On December 1, 1945, the bodies were reburied in Hoven Cemetery. The British military took part, and the parishioners turned out in large numbers. Following a local collection, a memorial to the two machine gunners was unveiled in 1946, with their names engraved on a Halifax propeller blade: Everett Morrison Ford and John Frederick Peak
Find us here:
Nørre Grenevej 1A
6880 Tarm
Mail: info@ringkobingfjordmuseer.dk
Telephone: +45 97 36 23 43
595 kr
12 months free access to 10 museums
1 person + 1 companion
50% discount on a regular day ticket to Universe
395 kr
12 months free access to 10 museums
1 person
50% discount on a regular day ticket to Universe
295 kr
14 days free entry to 10 different museums
1 person
50% discount on a regular day ticket to Universe