Wilbert Everett Eason

This memorial page is dedicated to Wilbert Everett Eason, 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.

Additional information

Grave location: Plot H, Row 10, Grave 3.

Son of James Everett Eason and Leonora (Lillie) Mae Eason-Phillips; widower of Helen Eason.

Awarded the Purple Heart.

Enlisted 14 August 1942, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

On the afternoon of Sunday 30 January 1944, a Boeing B-17 F bomber, nicknamed ‘Martha the II’ and bearing the serial number 42-29761 (VP-W), was forced to make an emergency landing in ‘de Rakt’ near Deurne. During a mission to Braunschweig (Germany), this bomber was shot down by several German Focke-Wulf 190 fighter aircraft before it even reached its target. Wilbert E. Eason, Harold Arthur Holtz, Peter Hlynsky and Harry Fong Lee lost their lives in the incident. Wilbert E. Eason managed to jump from the aircraft in time, but his parachute failed to open. Peter Hlynsky had also jumped from the aircraft but broke his neck during the jump; he asked some civilians who had rushed to the scene for a priest, and before he died from his injuries, he was administered the last rites.

Wilbert E. Eason tried to leave the aircraft using his parachute, but it failed to open, probably due to damage caused by shrapnel earlier that day.

Staff Sergeant Perry E. Beach survived the emergency landing but was quickly taken prisoner by the Germans whilst on the run. 1st Lieutenant Henri D. Steele, 2nd Lieutenant James R. Settle, 2nd Lieutenant Robert F. Anderson, 2nd Lieutenant Leopold L. Flores and Sergeant Paul Oakley Welch also survived this emergency landing but, after going into hiding for a while, were likewise taken prisoner by the Germans in Brussels on 19 and 20 March.

Eyewitness account by Petrus Sanders, a road worker (roadmender) who lived on the Rakt: “It was a lovely summer’s day, a Sunday afternoon around two o’clock. We were at home and one of my sisters was looking out of the window. We lived very close to where the aeroplane crashed. From there, you could see an aeroplane approaching in the distance, on fire, heading straight for us. We saw someone jump out of it, presumably above Bakel. It’s hard to estimate from that distance. The aeroplane was roughly above the Buntven. It was already burning very fiercely by then. We heard later that a machine-gunner had also fallen out at that altitude. It came hurtling towards us at breakneck speed. It appeared to be entirely engulfed in flames. And it was making a huge noise and spinning round and round. It had become uncontrollable. Just behind our house, it thundered past and crashed at the aforementioned spot, nose-first into the ground. Just before it crashed, they managed to jump out; one of them landed in the trough, head down. He was stuck up to his waist in the bottom of the trough. They managed to pull him out from there using his parachute. A few others who had jumped out were lying in the field, about 15 centimetres into the ground on their backs, bathed in blood. Then the Krauts arrived at breakneck speed, accompanied by a great deal of noise, rifles at the ready. That was apparently their custom; they couldn’t do it quietly. The bodies were collected and taken away to another location. Immediately, the area around that pile of wreckage was cordoned off. It was a four-engined bomber. The Germans apparently didn’t trust the situation and carried out a house-to-house search for any survivors. They were apparently missing a few members of the aircraft’s crew. During that search, the aforementioned family member from Vlierden was present with the Germans. The Germans went about those house-to-house searches like madmen. No crew members from the aeroplane were found. It was an American aeroplane.”

On the day of the emergency landing, the innocent Cornelis Nicolaas Schrama was shot in an ambush. The Germans most likely mistook him for a crew member.

A detailed file concerning “Martha the II” may be available for inspection from the author.

For photographs of the actual aircraft, see also its nickname “Martha the II” and tail number 229761.

Sergeant Paul Oakley Welch *3 September 1922 †27 February 2007, who survived the crash.

Jan van de Westerlo wearing the flight suit of Paul Oakly Welch, which was kept out of the hands of the Germans by Peter van de Westerlo (Jan van de Westerlo’s father).

Northampton County War Dead

The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), Sunday 23 April 1944

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