Roman Catholic Cemetery (Steenbergen)

 Second World War 1939-1945, cemetery, interesting place

Final resting place of Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC and Squadron Leader Jim Warick DFC

Guy Gibson VC, Wing Commander and the first CO of the RAF's 617 Squadron which he led on the "Dam Busters" raid in May 1943, crashed with his Mosquito aircraft in this municipality. Having returned to operational duties in 1944 after pestering Bomber Command,Wing Commander Gibson VC was killed along with his navigator Sqn Ldr Jim Warwick DFC, on a bombing raid over Rheydt (nowadays a borough of Mönchengladbach) operating as a Pathfinder Master Bomber based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire UK, when his De Havilland Mosquito XX, KB 267, crashed near Steenbergen on 19 September 1944, aged 26. It was assumed for many years that he had been shot down, but following the discovery of the wreckage of his plane, it was found that a fault with the fuel tank selector had meant that the aircraft had simply run out of fuel. An eye-witness account detailed how his aircraft circled Steenbergen, and then heard its engines 'splutter and stop'. The graves are located in the RC church in Missouri, Steenbergen. A street has been named after Gibson and Warick, and one of the aircraft's propellers is located in the city park. The park now bares the name "Dambuster Memorial Park".