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Mystery blooms over UK airman's Swedish grave
Published: 5 Sep 12 13:39 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/43028/20120905/
A Swedish church has found itself in the centre of a mystery after English relatives of a gunned down World War II airman realized that an anonymous well-wisher had been planting flowers at the grave since 1943.
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All the soldiers died in the crash, with the then 28-year-old Chambers washing up on Swedish shores entangled in parachute ropes.
He was buried with military honour at a church graveyard in Fjelie, southern Sweden.
“Throughout all these years, someone has been putting flowers on the grave – and we have no idea who it is,” said church head Krister Hagman of the Bjärred congregation to The Local.
“When the man’s UK relatives visited the burial site for the first time in spring, they were astonished that someone had taken all the trouble. There were fresh flowers and a ribbon with text.
“They naturally wanted to know more, and plan to give thanks to the unknown person, so they wrote us a letter asking if we knew anything.”
In response, the church put out a notice in their parish paper asking for the mystery well-wisher to come forward, however no one has owned up yet.
“We’ve had a lot of calls, but mostly from newspapers wanting to know more. People are certainly interested," said Hagman
While Hagman confesses he doesn’t know personally who is behind the flowers, he has agreed to get on board with contributions of his own.
“We’ll be adding our own flowers to the gravesite now too, in honour of the fallen soldier,” he said.
Oliver Gee
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http://www.rafbombercommand.com/memorialfund/
For the US Airmen http://www.8thafhs.org/
What I would do is leave a message thanking the person and saying if they want to get in touch see the priest/vicar or whatever they are called in Sweden
The British airman was a Hero, and died doing a heroic deed.
The unknown mourner is also a Hero to salute another Hero whose deeds might otherwise be forgotten.
God bless mystery flower person. You will be rewarded for this act of selflessness, I am in no doubt of it. God bless you.
Here is a translation:
On Tuesday Bengt Ekström from Ängelholm told a reporter from the radio that he and his wife regularly puts flowers on the grave. It started in after a trip to France in 1994 where they visited war scenes.
- We think that we have a debt to pay to these englishmen who saved the western democracy from nazism.