It is 76 years since a young man died in an oat field in Holland. That was on June 13, 1944. Sergeant Keith Russell Baker is a name on the War Memorial in the village of Chesham Bois.

He is one of the 18 service men and women from the parish who died during WWII. Until recently we knew little about him. An emailed enquiry from Wessel Scheer, who lives close to that oat field, has revealed this story.

At 18, Keith Baker volunteered for the RAF. At 19 he had one of the war’s most dangerous jobs - a gunner on a Lancaster bomber. His chances of survival were slim - half of all Bomber Command’s aircrews perished. Sgt Baker was a “Tail-End Charlie”, who was confined in his Perspex turret right at the back of the plane.

He would have worn an electrically heated flight suit as temperatures could go as low as -40C, but even this did not stop his breath freezing in icicles. His job was to scan the black skies for a glimpse of enemy aircraft, to warn his pilot and to defend the bomber.

On the night of 12 June 1944 Sgt Baker was sitting in the rear turret of the Lancaster bomber, Maggie, about to start his 7th mission. Estimates for the life expectancy of a WWII rear gunner vary but are never high at around five sorties.

He had already flown four in the last week to support the D-Day landings. At 23.11 hours, 17 Lancasters of the 514 Squadron left RAF Waterbeach. Four hours and 40 minutes later only 15 returned. They were part of a 303 strong bombing stream attacking a refinery at Gelsenkirchen in Germany to disrupt vital oil production.

When Maggie reached the target area the crew saw enormous fires, large columns of smoke and searchlights combing the sky. The bombs were released and as the pilot turned for home the aircraft would have felt much lighter. However, at some point Maggie was damaged by anti-aircraft fire.

This would have resonated through the plane as huge, hollow bangs. They probably now had to limp back at lower altitude and lower speed. This made the Lancaster an easy prey for the German night fighter who spotted it flying over farmland in central Holland. At around 01.30 hours, Maggie crashed close to the village of Nunspeet.

The navigator, the mid upper air gunner and the wireless operator came down in the burning fuselage and could not be saved. Three crew members had parachuted clear.

Flight Engineer Sgt Peter Cooper broke his leg when he landed in a tree and was arrested. Flight Sgt Harry Bourne, the bomb aimer, was rescued but insisted on returning to the plane and was also arrested. They were now Prisoners of War. Pilot Officer Duncliffe evaded capture and was hidden by the Dutch Resistance until Holland was liberated. All three returned home safely in 1945.

The morning after the crash children on the way to school found the dead body of the 7th crew member, Sgt Keith Baker. The tail of the plane had broken away. He probably died on impact when his gun turret landed in the oat field some distance from the rest of the wreckage.

Sgt Keith Baker and the crew of Maggie are not forgotten in Nunspeet today. They lie in a beautiful cemetery just 500m from the crash site.

Every 4 May, Remembrance Day in Holland, a service is held, and two minutes silence is observed. The Union Jack and the Flag of the Netherlands are flown at half-mast from 6pm until sundown. There is also a well-attended poppy day service on Remembrance Sunday in November.

Wessel Scheer is involved in local education and Remembrance programmes and would love to find out more about Keith Baker, as would Amersham Museum. Please get in contact if you are able to help at info@amershammuseum.org

The Family of Keith Baker

Keith was born 6 March 1924 to Reginald and Edith Baker who lived in Chesham. He had an older sister, Pamela. Their father had a successful business in Chesham High Street selling bikes and petrol.

He had served in German East Africa during WWI, from where he was invalided out with cerebral malaria and pleurisy. After many months in hospital Reginald returned to Chesham, and married Edith in parish church St Mary’s.

Edith Constance Pedder was born in North London, one of eight children. The family moved regularly before settling in Canton, later the house was called Mountview, in Holloway Lane, Chesham Bois around the time of WWI.

Her father, George, worked as a master bricklayer for the Arts and Crafts architect John Harold Kennard and was responsible for much of the fine detailing on local Kennard buildings. The family house has very distinctive round windows and was probably built by Kennard and Pedder some years earlier.

To begin with Reginald and Edith prospered in Chesham. Reginald was a councillor and was very active in the town. However, he suffered from constant ill health and may still have been suffering from the effects of shell shock.

In 1928 his health had deteriorated to such a degree that he resigned from the council and gave up his business. It is not known whether he was able to continue to support his young family.

In the 1939 Register Edith, Keith and Pamela are living alone in a caravan at her widowed mother’s house on Holloway Lane. Keith, just 15, is working in a bookshop. In 1941 Pamela married Desmond Gann and had a young son, Richard.