The story of John C. Burns

John C. Burns was an early volunteer  completed a tour  early in the war, when control over the skies of Europe was far from settled. Starting his tour May 1942, he flew over big German targets , such as the Ruhr, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Berlin, and Italian targets including Milan, Turin and Genoa.

A tour meant 25 missions. He could have accepted safe duty after that, but volunteered to do another full tour.

He was told that he had done his share, and would be of great service teaching navigation. He took the job, but on condition he do that teaching on an active base

This way he joined 431^st Squadron RCAF. Its losses were so high it was nicknamed "The Coffin Squadron".  With a high loss rate, there was always a shortage of navigators and, when one was needed for a mission, John Burns volunteered.

He was on his 39th mission when the Halifax took off from Croft June 16, 1944. On the return journey the plane was hit from below on the left side by a German nightfighter. The second time the starboard engine was hit. The pilot ordered everyone to jump.  Burns was ordered to warn both the midup gunner and reargunner. They were at the rear of the plane. Burns was one of the last ones that jumped out. When he did, he was hit by the junction box.

The wind startedto drag him.but he managed to hid his parachute in some bushes. Like he teached his student-navigators he choosed to walk south.

He walked along a small dyke along Altforst in the direction of the "Blauwe Sluis" (a hamlet between Appeltern and Maasbommel) He walked into an irrigation ditch and tried to run through a couple of fences in the dark. He fell, cutting his hand. After some time he crossed the Maasdijk and walked into the water-meadows. There he was stopped by the river Maas

Schipslei

He realised that he could not cross this natural barier all by himself so he needed time to think.  In the neighbourhood there were some pollard willows.One of them was hollow: An excellent place to spend the night. (There is some obscurity if the meeting with father and son van Gelder took place saturday- or sunday morning)

Pollard willows like John Burns saw them near the "Blauwe Sluis"

Storagebarn and white house of the Luijpen family at the Maasdijk in Appeltern. Between the two buildings there was a path towards the little bridge across the drainage canal

Burns stayed there for a couple of hours. He smoked some cigarettes and took off his booths because they were fullof water. He left them there when he went further halfway that morning.

At some distance he saw two buildings along the dike. He crossed a small bridge over a drainage canal and knocked on the door of the house. Mrs. Luijpen lived therewith her husband and brother in law. She opened the door and saw an unknown person,talking in an unknown language on bare feet! She paniced  and closed the door immediately.

Burns looked around and walked back to the bridge and weighed his chances.

It was saturday morning by then. )sunday?) June 17th and Mr.  Christiaan (Janus)  van Gelder and his son Frans were on there way home. They had visited the church service at Maasbommel and cycled over the dike road to their house at  Sluisestraat.

Mrs. Luijpen saw both men coming and went outside. She told them about the meeting with the strange man who was standing on the bridge.

Mr. van Gelder decided to meet the man and very soon found out that he was a foreigner. He decided to take him home.

He asked Gijs Luijpen, the brother in law of Mrs. Luijpen, to help him. Gijs was instructed the pilot directly through the fields to the farmhouse of Mr. van Gelder, while van Gelder and his son would cycle home. Theis way the neighbours  would not take much notice of them.

Henk van Gelder, 15- years old son, does have vivid memories to this day because it was his sisters birthday.

Mr. van Gelder probably  understood  to what the pilot was going through, because he sent his son Frans to Mr. Jozef Coppensns who was hiding somewhere because he did not want to work for the Germans. Coppens, who had studied and spoke English, wrote a little note in English:  “Dear friend, stay where you are. You are now with Dutch friends.”

When Burns read the note he was relieved. He now knew he could trust these people.

Mr. van Gelder and his wife in the living room

When there was a knockon the door, Burns immediately dived underthe table to hide himself. It took the family a lot of tpersuation to get him out again!

It was difficult to have a normal conversation. Henk tried this with both his hands and feet. To find out how many men werein the plane, he drew a plane, one person and a question sign. Burns understood the question and drew another six persons.

Not much is known about the other six crewmembers. Henk van Gelder does remember that one of the crewmembers was arrested in Puiflijk immediately after the landing.

The remaining five had been able to evade like Burns. They were hidden in the area around the village of Alphen. One night  a nurse van Loon, who worked with the resistance, came to visit John Burns.

Even the dog of the van Gelder family cooperated that night. Normally he was doing his job when someone came near the house: he barked very loudly! This night however he did not bark at all !

Fam. van Gelder voor het huis in de Sluisestraat nr. 1

It was quite clear the Canadians had to leave the church as soon as possible. The resistance managed to get false identification. The airmen were transformed to students of the Institute of Deaf People at St. Michielgestel. This way they need not to speak!

Father heurkens invited all the airmen and some resistance men for a meal in the vicary. He held a farewell speech both in French (there was a French Canadian among them) and English. He wished them a safe return to England. In civilian clothing the men cycled through the polder to the church of Altforst. Here they were welcomed by  father Vlekken.

This photograph was taken June 1944 in de sacristy of the church in Altforst. The praying chairs left and right illustrate this. On this photograph airmen and resistance men are brotherly united. Maybe this photograph istaken just before departing to Ravestein.

When the wear was over in Holland, the van Gelder family wrote a lettre to Burns, assuming he had returned to Canada.John Burns mother scared to death when she read the lettre because she did not understand at all what this family was writing. She only knew that her son was a POW in a camp near the Russian border.

After the Russians had liberated the prisoncamp, John Burns returned eventually to Canada. After reading the lettre he immediately wrote back and sent a box with chocolate, which was deliverd uncomplete.

Both families corresponded for a long time but after some years it stopped. In 1994, when it was 50 years ago that Burns stayed  with the van Gelder family, they sent him 50 roses. According to Mrs. Burns her husband became very emotional because he had forgotten it. This was the start of a renewed friendship.

John Burns came to the Netherlands and visited the church at Altforst. While he was standing at the rear of the church he saw a puddle pool of water. This brought back a memory: "We peed through the windows."