By Don Steen
Staff Writer • [email protected]
The Memorial Day edition of the Spencer County Leader featured the story of Lamar resident Albert Griepenstroh, a gunner killed in the November 13, 1943 crash of the B-17 “Buttercup” in the fields outside the village of Great Haseley. As it happens, the residents of that community had been working to honor the memory of those American airmen with a memorial, aptly unveiled during their annual Remembrance Day ceremonies.
The Buttercup was en route to bomb military targets in Bremen when it and another B-17 were brought down by bad weather and icing. Both managed to crash land in open fields away from civilians, and both exploded due to their nearly full fuel tanks and payloads. In the Buttercup’s case, Griepenstroh was killed instantly along with most of the crew aboard, and two others died shortly thereafter.
There were some survivors of the crew, men who had not been assigned to the plane for that mission. Flight Engineer De Witt A. Rockwell took the loss of his six fellow crew members particularly hard, penning a poem about the experience.
I watched them take off at the first break of day, then came back to my bunk and kneeled there to pray. They were called back later, so then I was glad, the weather had changed and looked very bad. The squadron came back, but soon we had learned that one plane and crew would never return. Then I started asking, “Who was it this time?” I soon was informed that the lost crew was mine.
The crash was remembered in local memory, but the sacrifice of the Buttercup’s crew went unremarked until recently. The local historical society in Great Haseley, near Oxford, recognized the incident’s significance and endeavored to erect a proper memorial to mark the site. The monument, marking the names of Albert Griepenstroh and his fellow crew members, was unveiled with considerable aplomb.
Relatives of the fallen airmen were invited to take part in the commemoration. The honor of unveiling the monument went to 103-year-old Robert Scudder, brother of the Buttercup’s pilot, Floyd Scudder.
“I had never heard of anything in 80 years about this,” Robert said in a local television interview. “And out of the blue it came.”
Jane Simcox, of the Great Haseley History Group, told reporters that research on the crash began a year ago. They relied heavily on the internet to reach out and find relatives from across the pond.
Albert Griepenstroh is buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery near Santa Claus, and the Find A Grave website put researchers in contact with Albert’s brother, Glen. In the end, it was decided that Glen’s son, Dale (whose research into Albert helped inform the Leader’s article earlier this year), would represent the family in England alongside 13 other Americans.
Dale was very impressed with his host’s Remembrance Day observations. While similar to America’s Veterans Day tied to the date of the WWI Armistice, the UK and Commonwealth nations adopted Remembrance Day following Second World War, observed on the second Sunday in November.
While Great Haseley is a relatively small village (“village, not town” as Dale was corrected by locals), it was still graced with a flyover that day. Honorary flyovers are generally carried out by British aircraft, but for this ceremony an American fighter/bomber was selected in honor of the Buttercup. Poppy flowers were also well in attendance, a tradition stemming from the WWI poem, “In Flanders Fields” which evokes imagery of poppies blowing between the crosses of the fallen.
Dale was also touched by how open his hosts were with their appreciation for his great uncle’s sacrifice, particularly among older residents of Great Haseley.
“They definitely wanted to thank us,” he recalled. “More than two men came up and said, “If it weren’t for your uncle we’d be speaking German right now. They felt that Britain was that close to falling.””
Dale also got to meet Toby Garfitt, a retired French Oxford Professor who helped organize the event to meet his family in Great Haseley.
“Having tea in the country with a French professor in England, his wife (a music teacher), and artist daughter, how much more perfect could that be?” he said.
Dale was particularly taken with the ancient history and art surrounding Great Haseley. The civil parish appears in records as far back as the Domesday Book of 1086, and the medieval church at its heart lent a great deal of solemnity to the Remembrance Day ceremonies. The sermon delivered in honor of Albert and the fallen crew of the Buttercup focused heavily on the theme of reconciliation and healing from the scars of war, a rather fitting message for Dale to leave with given his next destination.
Read more on this story in this week’s issue of the Spencer County Leader!
Featured Image: The memorial lists the names of Albert Griepenstroh and the other members of the crew.
A photo of Great Haseley Church in Oxfordshire where the Remembrance Day ceremony took place.
A photo of Albert Griepenstroh
Griepenstroh’s diploma from Dale High School circa 1938
A collection of Albert Griepenstroh’s special merits including ranking pins, badges, identification cards, and the Purple Heart medal of honor.
An American bomber participated in the honorary flyover in honor of the Buttercup, the B-17 bomber carrying Griepenstroh and the other crew members that crashed.
Dale Griepenstroh stands next to a portrait of his uncle, Albert Griepenstroh. Dale traveled to England to represent the family at the ceremony, and visited some relatives at the old family homestead in Germany as well.
An American flag was draped over the memorial during the ceremony.
Many attended the Remembrance Day ceremony, and expressed sincere gratitude for the crew that gave their lives fighting in World War II.
Above, relatives of the fallen crew of the “Buttercup” stand in the field where the B-17 crash landed, just outside the ancient village of Great Haseley in England.
Attendees listen to the priest at Great Haseley Church as he leads the crowd in a prayer.
103-year-old Robert Scudder, brother of the Buttercup’s pilot, Floyd Scudder, was endowed with honor of unveiling the monument at the Remembrance Day ceremony.
