Lewis Burpee’s (79) mother has only just become pregnant when his father dies in World War II. Now, almost 80 years later, Lewis receives a photo album at Gilze-Rijen Air Base with pictures of the plane crash that killed his father.
It is the night of 16 to 17 May 1943. The British Air Force is busy with Operation Chastise, also known as the Dam Busters. With this action, the British want to blow up a number of important dams in Nazi Germany. But above Gilze-Rijen things go wrong. The Lancaster plane ‘S for Sugar’ crashes and the entire crew is killed, including Lewis Burpee’s father.
“My mother was widowed way too young.”
His mother was only 22 years old when Lewis Burpee senior died. Young Lewis leafs through the album. “When I see the photos, it’s sad to think that this was the moment my father died,” he says emotionally. “That was the moment my mother’s life changed. She was widowed way too young, when I was yet to be born.”
On Christmas Eve 1943, Lewis Burpee is born and his mother decides to give him his father’s name. Over the years, Lewis hears and reads the stories of the action that killed his father. “I have a whole cupboard full of books about this operation. Everywhere there is something new that I did not know about my father’s death. Even now I have seen things that I did not know.”
“The fear they must have felt then is unimaginable”
Last December, a photo album of a German soldier came to light. It contained photos of the crashed Lancaster that had never been seen before. “When you see the consequences of the crash, you can only think of one thing: the moment they knew they would not survive. The fear they must have felt then is unimaginable.”
Lewis Burpee Jr. is now 79 years old. This was most likely the last time he can visit the memorial to his father’s crash and grave. “This album gives me a closure of this chapter. It takes away my last uncertainties and questions,” he says. “I do hope that my father and his crew will always be remembered.”
