173 Crew photograph on the Memorial Plaque taken by Charles (1944). 1992 of the shooting down of my uncle’s Halifax. The painting shows Schnaufer’s Messerschmitt firing at the wing of the Halifax with the Schelde River reflecting the explosion below. The Belgian artist had presented the painting to Bob Morris on a previous visit. At the conclusion of the unveiling at Haasdonk, I walked up the driveway of a nearby farmhouse to take a panoramic photo of the scene. An older man emerged from the house and walked toward me. I thought he might be displeased with me encroaching on his property, but, as he approached, he patted his heart and then gave me a hug. Clearly, he could not speak English, so I thanked him as best I could. After he returned to his house, I was greeted by his daughter who could speak English. She told me that her father at age eight had witnessed the crash of the Halifax from the window of the farmhouse where he still lived all these years later. His father had rushed to the crash site, but, finding no survivors, retrieved a brown satchel from the rubble before the German authorities arrived. When he opened the satchel in the family kitchen, he discovered a white silk parachute large enough to fill the room. A portion of the silk was made into a wedding dress, turning tragedy to joy. The daughter further explained that her father felt unable to attend the unveiling as memories of the crash were still too distressing for him. However, spotting me on his driveway, he took the opportunity to pay his respects. Throughout my visit to Belgium, I was moved by the heartfelt gratitude expressed by the locals for the role volunteers like my uncle played in the Belgian liberation. Their sacrifices will be remembered in Belgium thanks to the work of dedicated citizens like Ludo and Geneviève Van Hout and their BAHA colleagues. Remarkably, in 2014, my uncle’s watch was discovered in the field where the Halifax crashed. The finder contacted BAHA and its members arranged to send the watch to my aunt Lorraine in Boulder, Colorado.
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