Harold Chauncy Byrd
19 March 1945
Hello Pierre,
In honour of our Liberator Spitfire Pilot Harold Chauncy Byrd .
Now we have a picture behind the gravestone, thanks to You.
“Ne Obliviscaris”
Friendly Regards,
Met vriendelijke groet,
Hennie Berendsen
I believe this is the same Sqdn that Ron Beasley flew with — getting closer to home for me now
thought I saw 416 Sqdn — I must have made a mistake
Byrd was with 403.
Honest mistake.
Hello Pierre,
We have more and sad information about the dead of F/O Harold Chauncy Byrd.
Recently interview resulted in new info.
Everything was broken in Megchelen
Gert Mecking (1930) lived in 1945 on a farm on the Hogestraat at Landfort. During an interview his neighbour Leo Duenk (1933) joined the conversation. His parent’s house was on the Beuningstraat, to the west of Megchelen.
Gert Mecking : “I was there when that Spitfire came down in the forest on the 19th of March. We were sawing wood with some other men when suddenly that plane came down through the treetops.
When the plane came to the ground, the wings were already off. The pilot was still alive and was taken out of the plane and put against a tree. The Germans were there immediately and were swearing: Schweinhund! They toke off his uniform. We were all severely asked to go away. I heard them ranting and I am sure that they killed him!!! Firstly, that pilot is buried at Landfort.
So many pilots were killed by either German soldiers or German civilians when they were shot down. So this story is not surprising at all.
I have no way to doubt that story related by two men who were witness to this.