The Jespersen crew, flying in a Lancaster of 97 Squadron, were shot down on D-Day and all were killed.
Finn Varde Jespersen was a Norwegian and so were four of his crew. They belonged to the Norwegian forces rather than the British forces, and thus their graves and memorials are looked after by Norway.
Jespersen is remembered on three memorials in Norway. The photograph above is of the memorial at the Akershus Fortress, Oslo. The memorial plaque below has the name of all five Norwegian crew members: Jespersen, Evensen, Magnus, Munster and Pedersen, who represented a large proportion of the 34 names for RAF Bomber Command.
Jespersen is also remembered at the Heming and Ris Schools.
All the images on this page were sent by David Wold.
Richard Maddox emailed in June 2019 with the following info:
Reference the Jepersen crew loss on 6 June 1944; I’ve found a reference to the grave of one of the crew Jon Ernst Herlof Evensen. He is buried at the Vestre Gravlund Cemetery in Oslo.
This information is from the ‘Recherche de France-Crashes 39-45’ website and the page link is below:
The British and the Canadian members of the crew are buried in France. Respectively, they are Gerald Ashpole and William McCutcheon. Ashpole lies at Osmanville, where he was originally buried, whereas McCutcheon is at Bayeux.
Below: 75th anniversary memorial ceremony at Osmanville.
WAR STORIES 