Since March 2018 a group of volunteers are working hard to realize a monument for the crew of Halifax JB803 of 77 squadron of RAF Elvington, Yorkshire.

Guus Kroon had the idea for a monument for several years when in 2018 he decided that is was time to see if he would be able to do so.

Guus gathered several people from Muiden each with their own expertise.

The initial plan was to build the monument in May 2018, but due to the short time we had we decided to reveal a temporary monument that will be placed at the meadow.

JB803 crashed in 1943.

On may 1st 2018 this plaque was revealed with great interest from the locals from Muiden. Also present was Dick van Zomeren who wrote an article in the regional newspaper a couple of years back and great knowledge of the airplane and in which conditions it crashed. Also the son of the farmer who owns the land and first hand eyewitness was present to pay his respects.

Plans were made to erect a proper monument for May 1st 2019, so the group came together again to determine the location and discuss the design of the monument.

Several idea’s were brought up, but eventually we chose for a brick padestall with the plaque attached to it. On top there will be a WWII propellerblade. We had to buy it because, naturally, the original ones were not available since they were made out of wood. So when the engine was salvaged the propellerblades were gone….

Design of the monument

So things started to get serious. In October 2018 a request was submitted to the municipality of Gooise Meren. Muiden is one of the towns in this municipality.

After a long time of waiting we were invited to the city hall for a meeting with the department concerned with request for monuments, culture and history.

January 22nd we had a meeting, although the meeting felt positive, it did not have te outcome we hoped for.

The location we had in mind was not suitable for building a monument, several pipelines and cables run underneath the location and that would mean if maintenance had to be carried out on the pipelines they had to demolish the monument or move it. So this was not an option. Also there were road safety concerns. The monument is close to the road and that would mean that if a car goes out of controle it would be possible it would hit te monument.

Also we need te start up a foundation, which will be responsible for the maintenance and finances of the monument.

The date has now been set to May 1st 2020, this is also the 75th anniversary of the end of world war 2.

Miniature model of the momument made by our volunteer Wouter Wormhoudt!