Memorial

More information

William Holland sailed for France in 1940 to volunteer as an ambulance driver. He escaped to England that June and joined the RAF later in the year. He transferred to the USAAF in July 1943.

That day Lt Holland flew a mission with the 9th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, Provisional. His mission early that day was to assess if weather conditions over western Germany were suitable for heavy bombers.

Statement from 2nd Lt Harry P. Mc Clure, who was the Assistant Operations Officer for the 9th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, Provisional: "On 30 January 1945, at 0900 hours, I informed Bombay Flying Control to contact Lt Holland. No contact was made. I advised Control to notify Sweepstakes and Ripsaw Controls to see if contact could be made by them. As no contact was made, I advised the above Controls to try and contact Lt Holland every five (5) minutes, for a period of one (1) hour, on all channels. Still no contact was made. Upon checking with Radio City, Bombay, I was informed that Lt Holland made radio contact with them after take-off, at 0635 hours. Since then, no contact has been made with Lt Holland."

Lt Holland was shot down by a German night fighter.

He was initially buried by Belgian civilians. On 4 April 1945, his remains were removed to Ardennes Military Cemetery.

One picture was taken in early 1942 while undergoing advanced flight training with the RAF at Cranwell in the UK. On the other group photo, he poses with other volunteers when they left for Belgium to join the American Ambulance Force in 1940.