The airman was Sgt. Observer RAF Jack Burton Drury:
He disappeared with a Lancaster bomber plane 16^th November 1941 and was the only one of the crewmembers who was found drifting in the sea near Sklinna in Leka (Kommune).

He was identified on the 31^st August 1946 by F/Lt. Hubert Brooks who came to Brønnøysund to search for remains of lost aircraft (and crewmembers). We travelled to the islands. There we were shown a couple of machine guns that a fisherman used as supports for his quay. The serial number. was found for use in the identification of the plane. The grave with the unknown airman was opened with the church warden Eliot Evjen, and the gravedigger, Arthur Larsen.

F/Lt. Brooks had brought a statement for opening the grave. The airman was so to stay "vacuum-wrapped" in a tarpaulin, the Germans who brought him from Sklinna obviously hadn't opened the "package".

The body had his airmans jacket with observers watch on his wrist, and the ID-tags around his neck were still in place.

Thanks to the ID-tags, his identity could be established, and later reported to me.

In respect of the dead airmans sacrifice for our country, church warden Evjen and I decided to move the coffin to the oldest cemetery, where we chose a location close to the stone fencing on the southern side of the western entrance.

I remember that we sang "Closer to you, my God" the British F/Lt. sang it in english (Editor's Note: Hubert Brooks was Canadian), and finally we said the Lords prayer together, and received the blessing.

The weather was strange, some drizzling rain in east, and a glowing sun low on the western sky. We then had the joy of watching a full rainbow from east to west. The highest point of the rainbow appeared to go straight through the church-steeple.

The reason that we chose that location was the celebration of the national memorial days in the future.

The British War Graves Commission later wanted to move the grave to a central place for practical reasons. I was able to stop this. The grave of the airman was taken care of in Brønnøysund until priest Høiseth found that it was better that he was moved to Trondheim.

There (in Trondheim) the coffin was re-interred at Stavne cemetery, along with 155 British soldiers. I was in contact with the airmans mother up to her death. It was natural for me, since the airman had been churchwarden in his congregation in Lancaster (Linzee Druce NOTE: The airmans hometown wasn't Lancaster, but Preston, Lancashire.) His name continued to figure on the front page of the congregation newsletter up to the information of his death was given to his mother in 1946.

The lighthouse keeper at Sklinna had written a report about the discovery of the airman. Through the British embassy, I sent this report to his mother too.

In the vicarage archives, a folder with the letter including letters from his mother should still exist.

The airman was onboard one of the Wellington type 1C bombers that bombed Kiel on the 19^th of November 1941. 47 planes participated, and 4 were lost. They came from the airfield MARHAM, that still is in use for British planes. If the person contacts them, it surely should be possible to get more information. Since the airman was wearing a lifevest, it is possible that the plane had ditched, or that the crewmembers had parachuted over the North Sea, and Jack has been caught in the gulfstream current and ended up here. I don't know where he was found, but hardly near the pier in Brønnøysund.

As an example I can tell that in old days the people on the island St. Kilda near Scotland seet out small bootshaped wooden boxes with pleas for help. Today the now inhabited island has a radar station. Some of the radar personell sent out similar "boats" and one of them was found by a 12 year old girl not far from my hut at Dønna island. The man travelled with the coastal steamer some months later, and we then met him.

Back to the plane: There was also an attack by 49 planes on Emden at the same time as the attack on Kiel, 4 of the planes were lost there too. This is what I have so far.

Steinbjørn .