This memorial page is dedicated to Lawrence Malcolm Leech, 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.

 

Lawrence Malcolm Leech

Name: Leech
First names: Lawrence Malcolm
Nickname: –
Date of birth: 29 June 1918
Place of birth: Woodstock, Carleton, New Brunswick (Canada)
Residence: in McAdam, New Brunswick (Canada)
Rank / Occupation: Pilot Officer (Pilot)
Identity tag: J/5490
Unit: Royal Canadian Air Force, 214 (R.A.F.) Squadron
Date of death: 16 April 1942
Place of death: Deurne, “the Barrier”
Cause of death: as a result of a plane crash
Cemetery: Woensel Municipal Cemetery “De Oude Toren”
Memorial site
.		: Bomber Command Memorial Wall at Nanton, Alberta (Canada)
: ‘Het Rijtven’ War Memorial

.

Additional information

Grave location: JJ. 51.

Son of Sidney Charles and Clara Leech, from McAdam, New Brunswick (Canada)

The British twin-engine bomber took off in the late evening of 15 April 1942 from its home base at Stradishall in England for a bombing raid on a target near Dortmund. During the flight, the bomber was ‘caught’ in a beam of light from German searchlights and shot down by anti-aircraft fire. Lawrence Malcolm Leech, Harry Arthur Shortt

, Jack Ward

, Geoffrey Malcolm Charles Turner

, Vernon Ernest Egan

and Percy Heppenstall

were killed in the incident. The Wellington crashed in the hamlet known as “the Barrier”.

A comprehensive file relating to Pilot Officer Lawrence Malcolm Leech can be viewed via the following link: J5490 Leech, Lawrence Malcolm

Lawrence Malcolm Leech in uniform.
Lawrence Malcolm Leech in uniform.

“The Canadian Virtual War Memorial”
"The Canadian Virtual War Memorial"

Commemorated on page 89 of the book “Second World War Book of Remembrance”
Herdacht op Pagina 89 van het Boek "Second World War Book of Remembrance"

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