Picture of
the Lincoln High School Track and Field team.
Emerson is on the front row, in the middle,
5th from the left (and right) (picture courtesy
of ancestry.com via Diane Kessler)
Harvey's Track and
Field picture in the 1937 yearbook of Lincoln
High.
(picture courtesy of ancestry.com via Diane
Kessler)
Emerson later went back to
Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force
and became a navigator. Not much is known about
his time with the RCAF. He was sent to England
and joined 15 Squadron, which flew Stirling
bombers out of Bourne.
On 16 December 1942, Emerson and
his crew were sent on a mission to bomb a German
airfield at Diepholz. Harvey's crew for this
mission consisted of:
P/O Frank Serverne Millen
RCAF
Sgt G.C.G.Hutton
P/O Emerson Harvey Kieswetter RCAF
Sgt R.H.McKillop RNZAF
P/O R.N.Holmes RCAF
P/O H.E.Hill RCAF
Sgt J.F.Perring
Harvey was not the only
American on the crew. P/O Frank Millen was from
North Providence, Rhode Island.
The crew took off from
Bourne in Stirling R9168 LS-T. On the way, their
Stirling is hit by flak, but could fly on. Around 20.00 they are
intercepted by Lt. Werner Rapp from 7./NJG1, who
was based at Twente airfield. After a short
engagement, Lt. Werner hits the Stirling while
flying over the town of Emst. The Stirling
catches fire and starts to loose hight. First it
turns south, just before it reaches the town of
Gortel, then changes direction north. At 20.09
it crashes next to the Veenweg (peatroad) in the
local woods near Gortel, 7 km South West
of Epe, the Netherlands. All except Sgt
Perring are killed in the crash.
P/O Harvey Kieswetter is
buried at Epe General Cemetery, Plot 2. Row 10.
Coll. grave 616-618.
Memorial at the
location of the crash site (picture courtesy of
Paul Paarlberg and Eva Ulm)
