Mardon, Cedric Hall.

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Mardon, Cedric Hall, born 30-07-1921 from Crowcombe in the English county of Somerset, the son of Evelyn John Mardon (1867–1958) and his wife  Maud Mary, born Rotwell, Mardon (1881–1950)

Death and burial ground of Mardon, Cedric Hall.

 Cedric was the pilot of a British Wellington bomber that crashed near Kilder on the night of 15-04-1942. The 150 Squadron aircraft had taken off from Snaith Air Base at 21.35 on April 14. At 2:18 it was shot down by a German night fighter and crashed near the home of J. Witjes. Mardon remained in the cockpit, allowing the other five crew members to leave the aircraft in time by parachute. They survived their jump, but were taken prisoner of war by the Germans. Mardon crashed his plane. Cedric was buried with military honors in the Kilder cemetery by the Germans at 7 a.m. on April 18. So early in the war this was still happening. The crew of the British bomber that crashed near Loerbeek almost a year later was also still buried with military honors. The Allied airmen who died later were buried without any ceremony. Mardon’s personal belongings, by the way, were not buried with him, but confiscated by the Wehrmacht.

The funeral took place so early because the Germans thought there would be little audience then, but still four hundred Kildern people showed up to accompany the deceased to his final resting place. Gradus, the sexton’s son, later recalled that the German chaplain then spoke, “Jetzt müssen wir einen Freund beerdigen der weit von seiner Heimat, für sein Vaterland gefallen ist.” (“Now we have to bury a friend who fell far from his homeland, for his fatherland.”). When the Germans sounded their salute of honor over the grave, the Kilders youth, who were sitting in large numbers on the high partition wall along the cemetery, fell to the ground in terror. The coffin was completely bare, with no flowers, but when the Germans were gone, white flowers were placed on the grave, as shown in the left photo below.

The text on his original grave cross read: Here rests C.H. Mardon English flying officer killed for fatherland in Loerbeek 15/4 ’42. This shows that J. Witjes lived in the border area between Kilder and Loerbeek. Mardon is still buried in the cemetery in Kilder as Commonwealth War Dead in Compartment H, Row 9, Grave 5. In the early 1960s his parents visited the grave. Then on the weekend of April 14 and 15, 2012, exactly seventy years after the crash, his niece Caroline Mardon paid a visit to Kilder.   Berndje Bodde (second from left) walks to the memorial site in Kilder, surrounded by Clemens Harmsen (left) and Caroline Mardon and her friend. As a tribute to her uncle, she was together with Clemens Harmsen and Berndje Bodde, both from Kilder, at his grave and at the place where the plane crashed. Clemens Harmsen looked into the history of the plane and tracked down Caroline Mardon. She is a photographer in London. Berndje Bodde saw the plane crash as a 13-year-old boy and still remembers the incident well. A picture of him is at the bottom of his brother Wim’s page. Mardon’s name is on the plaque near the Canadian cannon on the Bleek in ‘s-Heerenberg. Six crew members of a British Lancaster bomber that crashed near Kilder two years later are also buried in this cemetery.

In March 2013, construction of several houses began on the former sports field in Kilder. In memory of Pilot Officer Mardon, the new street on which these houses stand was named Cedric Mardonstraat. From right to left Clemens Harmsen, Caroline Mardon (niece of Cedric Mardon), Mayor Ina Leppink-Schuitema and Arjan ter Bogt, director-director of Woningstichting Bergh.

The idea for the street name came from the work of Clemens Harmsen. Since he found out Mardon’s life story, he has been telling about it every two years to group 7/8 of Laetare Elementary School in Kilder. In 2012, one of the students asked why no street was named after Cedric Mardon. When shortly thereafter the municipality asked for proposals for the street name in the new building on the former Kilder sports field, the decision was quickly made.On 28-03-2014, Caroline Mardon, Cedric’s niece, officially unveiled the street sign along with the children who came up with the street name.

Mardon is buried at the Kilder Roman Catholic Cemetery. Kilder, Montferland Municipality, Gelderland, Netherlands. Section H, Row 9, Grave 5. left Mardon’s original grave cross in the Kilder cemetery.and right the current tombstone of Mardon.

Message(s), tips or interesting graves for the webmaster:    robhopmans@outlook.com

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