Crash information JD 149 Waddenzee

The crash of Halifax JD149

On the night of 27 to 28 May 1943, a British Halifax bomber crashed onto the tidal flats (Wad), about three kilometres west of Hippolytushoef, near the Normerdijk. The aircraft, with serial number JD149 and callsign DY-H, had taken off from RAF Pocklington at 11:26 PM with the goal of bombing the factories in the German city of Essen.

Before reaching its target, the heavy aircraft was intercepted and shot down by a German night fighter: Lt. H. Grimm of IV/NJG1. The Halifax was hit and crashed into the Wadden Sea around 1:44 AM.

Shortly before the crash, the wireless operator Samuel Zareikin sent out a distress call. The signal was received in England, but nothing further was heard from the Halifax or its crew. The aircraft was declared missing.

Only after the war did it become clear that the German occupiers had recovered the bodies of the crew, probably on 28 May. Five of the seven crew members were eventually identified; two were initially buried as unknown airmen. The bodies were transported across the exposed tidal flats and over the sea dike near Noordburen during low tide. They were buried on 1 June 1943 at the General Cemetery in Zandburen, which had been put into use only a few years earlier in 1939.

The story of Joop Visser

Joop Visser from Hippolytushoef was thirteen years old when the Halifax crashed. Many years later, through a tip from Dick Doornik, we received his recollections. In June 2023, Joop was 93 years old.

Joop, together with some friends, visited the wreck after the Germans had removed the crew’s bodies. As a curious young boy, he crawled through the remains of the plane. The cockpit was still relatively intact. Joop vividly remembers sitting in the pilot’s seat.

There is some uncertainty whether it was indeed the Halifax JD149 that Joop visited. It is also possible that he explored the wreckage of Lancaster W4256, which also crashed nearby. Still, Joop’s memory remains valuable.

The story of “Harry”

In 2019, Bob Gorter published the story of “Harry” in the magazine Op de Hoogte of the Historical Society of Wieringen, with help from Louis Hegeman.

During the war, Cor Hegeman (Louis’s father) heard a strange sound one night. He recognised the troubled engine noise of a bomber. Not long after, the aircraft crashed into the Wadden Sea.

Cor did not hesitate. He took his bicycle, hid it by the dike, and swam out to the wreck. There he found the bodies of the pilot and co-pilot. He removed papers from their uniform pockets and managed to return just before a German Kübelwagen arrived. Back home, he wrapped the documents in waterproof material and buried them in the garden.

After the war, Cor handed over the papers to the British Embassy. At the time, his wife Louise was pregnant. When their son was born, they named him “Harry”, probably after one of the fallen airmen.

Later, the Hegeman family received parcels from England, containing baby clothes, food, and other scarce items. It was a tangible sign of gratitude from the airmen’s relatives.

The cigarette box in the wreck

A unique detail in the story of Halifax JD149 is the wooden cigarette box that resurfaced decades later. It was found by Piet van Dijk, who was around 13 or 14 years old during the war and had been evacuated from Den Helder to Hippolytushoef along with his mother and sister. His father, a merchant seaman, did not return home until after the war.

According to family stories, Piet and a few friends visited the wreck of a crashed plane on the tidal flats, likely after the Germans had already been there. The wreck lay accessible at low tide, near the Normerdijk. Inside, Piet found a wooden cigarette box floating in the water.

Over seventy years later, Piet’s widow gave the box to a relative named Sander from Barsingerhorn. He contacted Jan Wessels, a former board member of the Historical Society of Wieringen. Together, they tried to determine which aircraft it had belonged to. Based on the location and year, they concluded it most likely came from Halifax JD149.

The box is hand-painted and bears the words “Hilsen fra Kristiansand”—“Greetings from Kristiansand,” a city in Norway. It is unclear whether any of the crew members ever visited there. The box also features painted poppies, the symbolic flower of remembrance in the UK. The poppy refers to In Flanders Fields, the poem by Canadian army doctor John McCrae. Every year, poppies are placed on the graves of fallen Allied soldiers.

That such a box with poppies was found in the wreckage makes it even more meaningful.

Pilot John Denzil Jeffery

John Denzil Jeffery, born in 1919, was the pilot of Halifax JD149. He attended The King’s (Cathedral) School in Peterborough, England. Memorial panels in the school library and in Peterborough Cathedral bear the names of former students who died in service during the First or Second World War. John’s name is among them.

On 10 September 1943, the Northampton Independent reported that John was missing. In one of his final letters to his grandmother (who had raised him) he wrote that he had a premonition he might not return from his next mission. He also mentioned that he had lost his mascot, a rabbit’s foot. It was not on board during the fatal flight.

What he did have with him was a wooden cigarette box decorated with flowers, poppies that grew on the battlefields of Flanders. It may well be the same box found later by Piet van Dijk in the wreck.

The Wartena family

The seven crew members of Halifax JD149 are buried at the General Cemetery in Zandburen. For many years, their graves have been adopted by the Wartena-Kok family. Each year on 11 November, they lay flowers at the graves along with local veterans, led by Dick Doornik of the Wieringen Veterans Contact Group.

In the UK, 11 November is the official day of remembrance, similar to the Dutch Remembrance Day on 4 May. For years, this commemoration was organised by Mrs. Riet van der Hulst-Bakker. After her passing, others continued this tradition.

To this day, poppies are placed on the graves, just like the ones painted on the cigarette box found in the wreckage.