Dutch family want to honour WW2 gunner at crash site

Brothers Kevin, Ron and Pim Klunder have been searching for details of a Billericay serviceman who died in World War Two, in a plane crash over The Netherlands.

A Dutch family want to honour an Essex serviceman who died in a World War Two plane crash over The Netherlands and have launched an appeal to trace his relatives.

Kevin, Ron and Pim Klunder adopted the grave of Sgt Jack Webber, wireless operator and air gunner for the RAF, who died on the 9 January 1943.

The family hoped to create a memorial at the crash site in the village of Haarzuilens, near Utrecht, for the Billericay serviceman and six others who died in the same Lancaster Bomber.

Adopting the graves of fallen soldiers is common practice in the Netherlands among people who wish to pay respects to the wartime generation.

Sgt Jack Webber, wireless operator and air gunner for the RAF, died on the 9 January 1943

People adopting a grave will visit to leave flowers and pay respects, despite typically having no personal connection to the person it commemorates.

“To honour them is the only thing you can do now, because they’re not around anymore, [all you can do] is to honour their graves and everything they did,” Kevin said.

Knowing only his name, hometown and immediate family connections, the trio appealed to The Billericay Page Facebook group, seeking photos of Webber, personal information or details of living descendants.

"We're contacting families so that they know we're caring for their graves of their loved ones," he added.

"I would also like to know if someone was caring for my brother, sister, uncle, grandfather [in the same situation]."

In a few weeks, the three-man team will be digging up the remains of the plane, which currently lies beneath farmland.

They hoped to find more personal artefacts.

Jo Cullen, from Basildon Heritage, confirmed that Webber's name was not on Billericay Town's Roll of Honour. They have since added it.

The brothers posted on the The Billericay Page Facebook group in the hope to find photos of Jack Webber