By George Palmer-Soady
Relatives of a Nottingham-born Second World War pilot buried in the Netherlands have been traced by a Dutch campaign group – after historians who read Notts TV’s coverage of their appeal came forward with information.
Last month, Dutch postman Siebe Siebenga launched an international search to trace the family of a Nottingham-born Francis Bernard Thorpe.
The Second World War RAF pilot is buried in his Netherlands village after being shot down more than 80 years ago.
Francis was born in Nottingham in 1919 before joining the Royal Air Force reserves around the time of the conflict.
While stationed at Middleton St George in County Durham, Thorpe and 85 others were sent to bomb a factory in Germany on the night of September 6, 1941.
While the mission was successful, 11 RAF bombers were shot down on their way back to England, including The Whitley, containing pilot Thorpe and four other crew members.
All five men died when the aircraft crashed. They were buried three days later at a cemetery in Burgum (previously called Bergum), a village in Friesland, in the north of the Netherlands, with a population of around 10,000 people.
Siebe, 62, is a member of the local ’80 Years of Liberation’ Committee, which works to honour Mr Thorpe and other men who died in combat.
His mission was to find the pilot’s family so the people of Burgum can get an idea of who he really was, meaning children in the village can better understand local history.
In October, he told Notts TV Francis Thorpe is a “hero of our town”.
Now exactly one-month-on, thanks to the original article published by Notts TV – Siebe and the committee have been put in touch with Mr Thorpe’s living nephew, Francis Vernon Price.
A pair of war historians who have been researching the history of the 78 Squadron – the unit of which Mr Thorpe was a pilot – saw the article and subsequently contacted Siebe, he says.
Through archives and family trees that the historians had unearthed, they found Mr Price – who lives in South East England.
Siebe and Francis have now shared a phone call together, and are currently exchanging letters.
“Two people helped me with the progress of searching for Francis Thorpe,” Siebe said.
“We’ve now been put in touch with Mr Price, who is in the third generation of the family.
“He’s told me things I didn’t know which is wonderful. The family went a couple of times in Burgum and in the 90s, 12 nieces and nephews and other members went on an expedition.
“He’s a very kind man and he has been so helpful to us. We now hope one of the puzzle pieces comes together.”
Siebe says Mr Price has now been supportive of the committee. He previously told Notts TV that – if he found any living relatives of the WW2 pilot – he wants to eventually invite them to Burgum.
He now says that the local village hall has shown an interest in inviting Mr Price, who they hope will come next year to open a new monument in his uncle’s name.
“We have this plan for an information monument on the place where the plane crashed. We hope he is here to open it and that the city hall will invite him.
“This really is very important to us and we want to tell the story of these men as best we can.
“We want to know everything about this man who grew up in Nottingham and became a pilot – from what his family has said, he was born to be a pilot.”
Siebe went on to thank Notts TV, adding: “It was a very good thing we did that [the article] because now we’ve made significant progress in our search.
“Now we can tell the real story and it helps us a lot in what we do. The committee have been working for years and doing good work, but they have never found this much and put a face to the people.
“Now we have results, so we thank Notts TV for doing this for us.”
