Halifax II DT752  EQ-W  408 Squadron RAF

16-17 April 1943

Mission: Pilsen, Czechoslovakia

Shot down by a night-fighter Oblt Ludwig Meister I./NJG4

Crash: Near Nassogne

F/O JR Sergent  RCAF  KIA Heverlee War Cemetery

Sgt HG Machell  RCAF   KIA Heverlee War Cemetery

Sgt GM Hill  KIA Heverlee War Cemetery

Sgt FR Cocks   KIA Heverlee War Cemetery

Sgt DF Gargrave   KIA Heverlee War Cemetery

Sgt W Kwasney  RCAF  KIA  Florennes Communal Cemetery . Body found on the 6.5.43 near Nassogne

Sgt CD Heming  RCAF   KIA Heverlee War Cemetery

The aircraft crashed in a clearing in the woods just outside the town (Nassogne), and exploded. The germans removed three bodies and later a fourth body was found and removed elsewhere. The ring mentioned in your MR.1753/P.4/503H, dated 26th September, 1945, was found on a hand and fors-arm wedged in the branches of a tree. It is believed that two more bodies were buried under the engines, which are deeply inbedded in the soft soil. Melle Bourgeois states that her father saw a body under an engine when the Germans were trying to haul it out with the help of a crane. however, the cable snapped and the engine fell back in the hole. Despite protests by the Gendarmes, the Germans refuse to continue their efforts and ordered the hole to be filled in. Later the inhabitants placed a cross over the spot, and flowers have been placed there regulary by the inhabitants. (signed) R. Cruwys F/Lt No.2 Section (Belgium) Sevice RAF 7th November 1945

The ring, would appear to belong to a Canadian member of the crew, most probably Sergeant Kwasney, 22 November 1945