Great-uncle's bravery acknowledged in trip

By JARED NICOLL

Stuffconz | Tuesday, 10 June 2014

Gary Stratton's great-uncle James Fraser Craig was killed during a World War II bombing mission that attacked the German town of Stuttgart, just across the mountainous border from the small French village of Sondernach.

In April [2014], Sondernach's 700 residents honoured the Royal New Zealand Air Force flight lieutenant and his Lancaster bomber crew for their part in resisting the Nazi invasion by unveiling a memorial and inviting Stratton and his wife June to be there.

"It was probably the most emotional weekend of my life,"  Gary Stratton said.

"I met a villager who, as a 13-year-old girl, remembered seeing the plane in a ball of fire as it crossed over the houses of the village very low down.

"[It was] an overwhelming privilege to see so many people on the other side of the world unveiling a memorial to say a personal thank you to James and his crew."  He felt honoured to represent his family, especially his great grandparents, who waited 12 months during the war to find out what happened to Craig.

He was proud to unveil the plaque from beneath a New Zealand flag that the couple brought from Petone, which would be flown every year on the anniversary of the crash.

Craig, 31, was in one of 14 Lancaster bombers on their way from Lincolnshire in England to attack Stuttgart, which is across the border from Sondernach.

The bombers were part of a huge offensive on March 15, 1944, in which 863 RAF bombers dropped 3000 tons of bombs to try to put the Alsace area back in French hands.

June Stratton said a Scottish newspaper at the time reported: "It was an atrocious night, icicles hanging off the mask of the pilot and intense agony when touching frozen instruments with only silk gloves".

Craig was in a crew of seven when his plane was shot down.  One parachuted and was taken to a POW camp.  Another who parachuted was impaled on a tree and died.  The remains of the other five crew, including Craig, were unidentifiable and buried in a temporary shared grave.

Stratton said the villagers believe Craig maintained control of his plane when it burst into flames, and that he gave his life by crashing into the mountains at the side of the village rather than trying to land in it.  He was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross.

Gary Stratton returned home with a piece from the wreck.

- Hutt News

[Ed.: More information: Sondernach Memorial and Aerosteles lieux de memoire aeronautique - Lancaster LL852.]