Lest We Forget

Lest we forget

Eyewitness honours gunned down Canadian airman

By Anne Sanderson

A story that began 65 years ago recently came to life again for Canadian airman Barry Needham.

This October he had the opportunity to travel to France. There he met a woman who claims she has never forgotten the sacrifices he made during WWII.

Eighteen at the time, Georgette Dorn says she watched Needham plummet from the sky when his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire over the small village of Bons-Tassilly, France on July 7, 1944.

On New Year’s Eve, 2008 she decided it was time to let him know how much she appreciated all that he has done.

Needham received the phone call in January. After sharing the story with her family over the holidays Dorn’s English-speaking granddaughter had agreed to contact him on her behalf.

 “I could hardly believe what I was hearing when her granddaughter started telling me everything her grandma remembered,” Barry said of the call. “She remembered it with such detail that I asked her to get her grandmother to write out what she observed.”

The letters arrived in the mail a short time later, along with a hand-drawn map of the crash site showing where Dorn had been standing hanging wash to dry when Needham’s plane was hit. 

“The parachute and the pilot came down quite slowly while we tried to get his attention with our white tea towel,” Dorn remembered. “We were hoping to get his attention so we could direct him away from the Germans but the terrain was not in our favour.”

“We followed you with our eyes until you landed and we have always remembered your legs dangling,” Dorn continued. “A few hours later when I made my way to the road I saw you in the SS car. I waved Au Revoir and someone waved back. I always thought it was you.”

Dorn expressed an interest in meeting Needham in person and when he didn’t show up to a celebration at Juno Beach in June she sent him a bottle of wine in the mail.

“It had been wrapped several times to protect it – it must have cost her a lot to send. It made me realize just how important all of this was to her so I arranged a trip to go and see her,” Needham said.

Accompanied by his son-in-law Alfred Moshurchak and family friend Jackie Ferraton their interpreter, Needham arrived in Paris, France on Oct. 12.

He met Georgette Dorn at a small village. She was accompanied by Madame Oriot, the wife of a man who had attempted to help Needham after the crash.

“When I walked up to her it was as if I was meeting an old friend,” Needham says of the meeting. “As is expected in France I kissed her on both cheeks and gave her a hug. She had tears in her eyes – it was a very emotional moment.”

Needham was honoured during a short ceremony, which was filmed by French television stations and later recorded in the daily newspaper.

While it is hard to imagine, what is especially hard to believe is that is only half of the story.

It is not the first time he has been honoured by eyewitnesses.

In fact it was newspaper accounts of his previous visits that led his most recent eyewitness to locate him.

In 2005 he was invited back to watch his plane be exhumed from the ground.

It ended up being a P51 Mustang, but a newspaper article reporting the details of the war-time crash drew forward some valuable eyewitnesses who were able to pin-point the exact location of Needham’s spitfire.

Elie Lemarchand was a farmhand at Bons-Tassilly when he saw the plane go down. The event had begun with the familiar sound of a plane turning overhead. Then a barrage of anti-aircraft fire had filled the midday sky.

                        Upon hearing the noise, Lemarchand quickly ran outside to see what was happening. His heart sank when he realized the plane had been hit. As he watched the plane spiral downward from the sky, it was with sickened horror he saw the pilot bail out and fall through what had become an incredible ball of flame.

                        Lemarchand was close enough to see the pilot fall into the woods on the other side of the road behind the water filtration plant of Bons-Tassilly. The airplane met its final demise only a short distance away, not far from the entrance of the road from Caen to Falaise.

                        As Lemarchand watched, he saw the pilot attempt to undo his parachute straps. He had been badly burned and was obviously suffering a great deal.

                        Although Lemarchand was tempted to help the ailing pilot at 21 years of age he knew he was no match for the Germans. To his relief someone else stepped forward. He recognized the young man as his neighbour, 20-year-old Guy Oriot.

The idea appeared to be to get the injured pilot behind the water plant before the enemy arrived. Unfortunately for them both, a carload of Germans would arrive at precisely the wrong time. “Sharp” discussions ensued and eventually both men were taken into the custody of the dreaded SS. Lemarchand later heard that Oriot had been released. However, according to rumour things had not ended so favourably for the Canadian pilot. The Germans locked him up  in a German prison, where he was kept for well over 30 days.

The night Needham’s plane was gunned down Lemarchand sat down and wrote five pages in his diary. Sixty-one years later he presented his diary as evidence of the true account of the events that had transpired. When combined with the details provided by the other three witnesses the hobby group was able to pinpoint the exact location of the missing Spitfire, some 15 to 20 miles away from the first dig.

 Needham was present when the Spitfire was successfully exhumed on June 19, 2006 almost 62 years from the day it had gone down.

The stench of old gasoline filled the air when the backhoe's first shovelful broke ground bringing up some shattered pieces, soon identified as MK622, Needham's Spitfire.

The excavation continued for several hours, uncovering more and more pieces, including the engine and still inflated tail-wheel buried almost 20 feet underground. Even the serial number plate was intact.

When he was back this October, Jean-Claude _______ who heads up ANSA the group responsible for the dig, took Needham back to the crash site again and used a metal detector to see if there was anything else left.

“We had barely scratched the surface and we found a 303 shell,” Needham said. “It is no wonder these people have never forgotten – it is still all around them.”

While at Bons-Tassily Needham and Dorn also went back to her old house and stood where she had watched his plane come down.

“A young couple have the house now, but as we stood there I could see how clearly she had seen what transpired that day,” Needham said. “It was emotional for both of us to think that after all these years we have finally met.”

While Needham has no idea what will transpire next he has already been invited to travel back to France in 2014 to attend a special ceremony to honour the efforts of WWII veterans.

In the meantime he admits he is one of the fortunate few.

“It’s a miracle really that they still remember after all these years,” Needham told Airforce Magazine in an interview recently. “I am starting to think that being hit may have been the best thing that has ever happened to me – it has certainly made my life a lot more interesting.”

Altogether the now-retired newspaper publisher residing in Wynyard, Sask. has been back to France six times and each time he is honoured he is reminded of the esteem the French have for Canadian servicemen and women.

“Many good men and women died never knowing how much their sacrifices meant and now that the French have found a live body it is as if I have been chosen to tell the story. I am truly honoured to be put in such a position and I want everybody to know it is an honour I share with everyone who was part of it.”