This memorial page is dedicated to Alexander Plant Smith, one of more than 725 war victims connected to the municipality of Deurne documented by Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers. The municipality of Deurne and the surrounding villages of Liessel, Vlierden, Helenaveen, Neerkant and Zeilberg were liberated in the autumn of 1944 during heavy fighting. Victims fell on all sides: Allied soldiers from countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and New Zealand, and German soldiers.

But the archive covers more than just the combat victims on Deurne soil. Residents of Deurne who lost their lives elsewhere are also commemorated: civilians who were murdered in concentration camps, forced labourers who died in Germany, people who were executed or succumbed to the effects of persecution and oppression. In addition, residents of Deurne who entered German military service and were killed elsewhere are also included.

Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers has been documenting the story of all these people since 1995, without distinction of nationality, side or background. The goal is to give every person a name and a face, and to keep their memory alive.

 

Name: Smith
First names: Alexander Plant
Nickname: –
Date of birth: –
Place of birth: Glasgow
Residence: Carron Valley District
Rank / Occupation: Flight Sergeant (W.Op./Air Gnr.)
Identity tag: 653803
Unit: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 78 Squadron
Date of death: 16 May 1941
Place of death: Helenaveen
Cause of death: as a result of a plane crash
Cemetery: Jonkerbos War Cemetery, Nijmegen
Memorial site: Largs War Memorial (United Kingdom)
: Largs Cemetery (United Kingdom)


Additional information

Grave location: 3. H. 7. (shared grave with Reginald James Garlish)

Aged 20. Son of Alexander Plant Smith and Annie Scott Smith, of Largs, Ayrshire.

During the night of 16 to 17 May 1941, the bomber, a Whitley EY-V with serial number Z6493, was shot down during a mission to Cologne by Unteroffizier Wolfgang Eberhard Pross of the 3./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1. Alexander Plant Smith, John Aubrey Trevor Garrould, Robert Sydney Langston Keymer, Reginald James Garlish and Edward Oakes were killed in the incident and were buried at the Cemetery on Dokter Blumenkampstraat in Venlo, row 7, graves 104 to 108. Following the clearance of this cemetery, they were reburied at Jonkerbos.

Corporal Wolfgang Eberhard Pross was killed that same night at ‘Fliegerhorst Venlo’ airport in Venlo when his Messerschmitt Bf 110 overturned during landing. Pross’s final resting place is at the Johannis Friedhof in Dresden-Tolkenwitz.

View all persons in the category: Allied soldiers killed in action