Preparation
  Sergeant Benjamin Hudson - 576 Squadron  
 

Sergeant Benjamin Hudson - RAFVR
 
 Sergeant Benjamin Hudson was serving as Wireless Operator aboard Lancaster Mk.I ME-576 coded UL-K2  during an operation to lay mines in Denmark’s Little Belt seaway on May 15/16, 1944. The aircraft departed Elsham Wolds at 2208hrs but was shot down by a night fighter crashing at Gamtofte. The plane came down in the village, demolishing the Presbytery. Two farms were burnt to the ground and most of the buildings in the village were damaged but loss of life was limited to that of the crew. The crew were buried by German occupying forces in the graveyard at Gamtofte, three miles east of Assens.

 The rest of the crew were:

Name Service Trade Hometown  Age
F/O Ernest Presland DFC  RAFVR Pilot East Ham, Essex 22
P/O Albert Slade  RAFVR 2nd Pilot - -
Sgt Alan Knapp  RAFVR Flight Engineer - -
F/O Mark Abramson  RCAF Navigator Ottawa, Ontario 30
F/O Charles Ashcroft  RAFVR Bomb Aimer Rusholme,Manchester 27
Sgt Robert Leatham  RAFVR Air Gunner Bebington,Cheshire 20
Sgt Arthur Wright DFM  RAFVR Air Gunner Doncaster, Yorkshire 27

 

Sergeant Benjamin Hudson, crew and ground crew.

Sergeant Benjamin “Benny” Johnson Hudson was born in Hartlepool and married Doris, a WAAF, on 6th May 1944 in Matlock. Two days after their marriage, Benny returned to his squadron.

Benjamin and wife Doris on their Wedding Day.

 On 16th May 2004 the villagers of Gamtofte were able to trace  Benny’s wife for a memorial service to the crew.

 On a stone commemorating the eight members of the  crew and marking the exact spot where they crashed, is inscribed- “Denmark thanks these sons of England who found their death here on May 16th 1944. The Graves of the crew are lovingly tended each year by the villagers of Gamtofte.

 This was an especially poignant visit for Benny’s wife as for fifty years, she had no idea of the location of his grave or his fate, having never received the official letter from the Air Ministry. At the service she commented on Benny's last words to her  "If I am posted as missing, don’t think that I am dead - I’ll come back!"

"Now I feel that he has come back."

 
 
  Photos courtesy of Maureen Letts, research by Linda Ibrom.