Sgt Twarkowski and Sgt Meller took off
from their base Hemswell in Lincolnshire in their
Vickers Wellington IV Z1345 GR-D on a raid to Emden.
Around 03.00 a SOS message is received from
Z1345. 15 minutes later, another message that
they are under attack from a night fighter and
have lost their life raft. They are shot down
over sea by a German night fighter and crash in the Waddenzee off Terschelling. The whole crew
is lost.
All of them wash ashore at different locations
along the Dutch coast. All are wearing their
life jackets.
On 15 July 1942 Zbigniew Jan Kazimierz Dubas
washed ashore on the Island of Terschelling, the
Netherlands.
Józef Alojzy Meller initially washed ashore on
17 July 1942 and is buried in the Roman Catholic
Churchyard of Nes on the Island of Ameland, the
Netherlands.
Zdzisław Zygmunt Twarkowski washed ashore on 23
July 1942 and he has been buried in the General
Cemetery, at Ulrum, the Netherlands.
Wacław Stanisław Michalik and Kazimierz Jerzy
Kapa both washed ashore and were buried on 24
july 1942 on the Island of Schiermonnikoog, the
Netherlands.
(picture by
Wim Bastiaanse)