Jum Duckworth

 

The cross was a gift to Egersund, South Norway and its Liberation Council. Made by Jum, and presented by him, on May 8th 1995, at their Festival of Peace in Egersund. It was to be placed in the church at Helleland, where lie the graves of the crew of a Halifax bomber lost during Operation Freshman, which was intended to destroy a manufacturing plant and its ‘Heavy Water’ product in order to prevent the latter's transportation to Germany, and its possible use in the making of an atomic device which could have altered the course of the War.

The Operation took place on the night of 19/20th November 1942. One of the two Halifaxes (each towing a glider) crashed, killing all of the crew. The second glider was also lost and the survivors of the crash, although in British uniforms, were interrogated and shot. This act was under a personal order by Adolf Hitler, dated October 1942. The successful Operation mounted after this tragedy was recorded as a film – ‘The Heroes of Telemark’.

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