קיבוץ גזית

Tying the ends to my looking for my father.

I arrived in Holland and made my way from Amsterdam to Zeeland, which is in the south west, where my father was shot down and killed in 1943 in a bomber on its way to a mission in Germany. He was killed with another six crewmen, five bodies were recovered from the wreck, but two were not found, my father being one of them. The five that were found and are buried in two cemeteries in Zeeland where the plane was shot down. A young Dutch guy ,Leon Hilleman who I met,has made it his job to look after the graves, as he says its his way of thanking the British for helping Holland in the war. I visited both the cemeteries and found the five graves and paid my respects to my fathers fallen comrades. Looking at the graves at these young boys, no older than 25, my father was 22, it was their first mission but as I stood there I realized that they knew my father better than I did. My deepest  thanks to Leon Hillman for his work and his friendship.

My next stop was to The North of England, to place called Pollington, where the airfield of the 51st Squadron was based. The village of Pollington had adopted the squadron and has built a memorial garden to the fallen soldiers of the 51st Squadron. I joined in the reunion  and met many  young and not so young, family members of the fallen. The only family member of the crew of my father was Jane Helliwell,  the niece of one of the crew members. I also laid a plaque in my fathers name in the garden.

My thanks goes out to the work done by the  History team of Peter  Gulliver and Niel Smith. A very special thanks  to Peter and of course Debra who were with us in Pollington….a devoted man whos work and friendship I will cherish.

My last stop was in the Memorial at Runnymead England where all the names of the fallen are inscribed on the remembrance wall and I found my fathers name , thus closing my search to what happened to Sgt David Glassman aged 22, killed over Holland in 1943……………my dad.