War graves at RK Kerkhof (P0004)

In a Commonwealth war grave (in box A2) rests Flight Lieutenant (Pilot) Stamford Seaton Williams (nickname: Bill). He was born on 4 February 1920 in Wanganui, New Zealand. On 13 April 1941 he joined the RNZAF (Roy-al New Zealand Air Force). He received his training as a pilot in Canada and arrived in England in December 1941, where he continued his training. In May 1942 he made his first operational flight. From October 1944 his squadron (486) was stationed at Volkel Air Base in - already liberated - North Brabant. During its 241st (operational flight (on 22 December 1944) his aircraft, a 'Tempest V' (EJ715), was hit by German anti-aircraft guns and crashed in a meadow in Zuid-Berghuizen, which was then still part of the municipality of Losser.

Two Dijkhuis brothers are buried in a double grave of the (Dutch) War Graves Foundation (box D1). Joop (born 03-05-1920) was killed on 1 April 1945 in Hengevelde, as a resistance fighter in a firefight with retreating German troops. (The tombstone mistakenly states April 2, 1945 as the date of death). His brother Hans (born 25-09-1916) was with the Marechaussee and was fired because he refused to pick up Jews. In 1942 he was imprisoned for four months in Kleve (Dld.) for illegally keeping carrier pigeons, where he had to work in a lime quarry. He came home broken and almost blind. On 26 February 1944 he died in a hospital in Utrecht.

This cemetery also houses the grave of Father Schaafs. The pastor unequivocally expressed his distaste for anything that hinted at National Socialism. He was arrested twice after making anti-German statements in sermons. Via camp Vught, the pastor ended up in Dachau in 1944 and returned to Losser on 31 May 1945. However, the hardships during his imprisonment had demanded too much of him and he died on July 26, 1946.

In this cemetery (in box C) you will also find the grave in which father Johannes Stegge and five of his children are buried. They died when on 14 January 1945 a German fighter plane crashed into their house at Scholtinkstraat 38.

Stichting Historische Kring Losser