Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945

Monuments


Monument chart: M0043
Monument Name T/R Number
Monument voor Amerikaanse Vliegers T3257
Date unveiling Street City Zipcode Province
May 5, 2008 Gnossenlaan Bolsward 8701 PB Friesland
Description
The 'Monument to American Airmen' in Bolsward is a polished boulder with a bronze plaque attached on which an account of the commemorated event.
History
The monument relates to the crash of a B-24 bomber of the USAAF that was  part of a squadron of Liberatorson a mission to bomb a railway yard in Osnabrück, Germany, on December 22, 1943. At the target, it was unable to drop the bombs due to a technical defect. On the way back to their base Tibenham (county Norfolk, East Anglia) they were attacked by German fighters over Friesland, shot down and crashed 1 km sw of Bolsward. This happened at a stone's throw distance from the farm of the Witteveen family, of whom two cousins initiated the dedication of this memorial. All the ten crewmembers who were killed in acion.