Robert Gardner was an Air Gunner serving with 61 Squadron, based at Skellingthorpe. On the 25th April 1944 he and his crew took off from the station in Lancaster LM359 QR-B on an operation to Munchen (Munich). The reason for their loss is not known but the aircraft crashed on a farm at La Chappelle Thecle, near Lohane in the Burgundy region of France. An eye witness account said that if the plane had not clipped a tree it is likely that there would have been more survivors. Robert was just 22 years old when he was killed and had only been married to wife, Joan Valerie, two weeks before the crash.
The bodies of the six crew who died are interred at the Lyon (La Doua) French National Cemetery. Robert’s Epitaph Reads:
INTO THE DARKNESS “ON WINGS” WE HEARD YOU DEPART;
WE AWAITED THE DAWN IN VAIN. DAD AND MOTHER
Only one of the crew survived the crash, Sergeant C Ratner, who was the Wireless Operator.
In 1949 the Village of La Chappelle Thecle erected a Memorial on the site of the crash in memory of the lost crew. The memorial includes a piece of the aircraft which was donated by the farmer. A memorial service is held every year by the locals which was, from 1988 until 3 years ago, attended by Betty Bascombe, the widow of Sgt RCH Jones. Since 1994 this service has been organised by the Swiss branch of the Royal Air Forces Association assisted by the Lyon branch.
Betty represented the War Widows at the turf cutting at the IBCC in 2014 and again for both of the unveiling ceremonies for the Spire and the Centre.
To find out more about Robert and his crew, please click here
