Dear Mr. Wilber,

About 2 weeks ago I have send you an email regarding the “queen city”.
I was curious if you were able to read my email and are willing to replay on this story.
If you did not receive my email regarding the “queen city” I can send you a copy of this email.  


Regards Peter van der Linden

Peter, Sorry for the late reply-I sometimes forget I have a forum. I know abit about the downing of the "Queen City". I didn't recieve your e mail so please give it to me again.

doug wilber

doug,i have send you my email again.
greetings.

Doug,

My first email contains 4 word documents and my second email contains some pictures.
I hope you will receive them.
If not I will try to post it in some another way to you.

peter.

Peter, My e mail address is Tball4923@aol.com. Use that one because I still have not gotten anything.

doug

Doug, i have send you my emails a second time with no problems on my side to Tball4923@aol.com
maybe its possible that there is a problem at your side.
Do you have another adres if you are not able to receive them?

its alsowe possible to copy my story to this forum but i don't know what to do whit my pictures then.(registration plate of the willy's jeep)
maybe you have a option on that.
you can alsowe reach me on my email vanderlinden2@home.nl.

Peter, I would like to post any information or pictures of the Willy jeep that was on the "Queen City". I talked 5 years ago with glider pilot  George Anderson who was the best friend of F/O Noel McCann who piloted the Queen City. The "Queen City" is named after McCann's hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. He saw his       friend die in seconds after the wing was shot off by the Germans just before they approached their target, Landing Zone W, near Son. Since it hit at such a great rate of speed Anderson doubted the German claim that they used the jeep aboard the CG-4A Waco which killed three members of my Dad's unit and           McCann. If the Germans did use it that would be something. I would have to see if I can find the            manifast for the Queen City to see if that matches the registration #.

Doug Wilber

Peter, I would like to post any information or pictures of the Willy jeep that was on the "Queen City". I talked 5 years ago with glider pilot  George Anderson who was the best friend of F/O Noel McCann who piloted the Queen City. The "Queen City" is named after McCann's hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. He saw his       friend die in seconds after the wing was shot off by the Germans just before they approached their target, Landing Zone W, near Son. Since it hit at such a great rate of speed Anderson doubted the German claim that they used the jeep aboard the CG-4A Waco which killed three members of my Dad's unit and           McCann. If the Germans did use it that would be something. I would have to see if I can find the            manifast for the Queen City to see if that matches the registration #.

Doug Wilber

doug, i have replayed your email directly so i can not do any thing else.
but because i am bussy with this story for some time now, and this email thing is making me a bit sad i will post it all directly on your forum.
its even giving me some sleeples nights.
its at this time 1.45 am in holland so here we go

                                                                                                         April 2008

Dear Mr. Wilber

May I first introduce myself.
My name is Peter van der Linden, age 36.
I live in a small village in Holland, called Oisterwijk.
I’m e-mailing you because I have in my possession further information regarding the “Queen City”.
As  you already know the Queen City crashed in our village on sept. 18th, 1944.
Some of the information from your website I gave to my new neighbours as they don’t own a computer.
In return they provided me with the following.
The Willy’s Jeep, which was part of the cargo of the of the unfortunate glider, survived the crash and was claimed by the German Forces.
The German army unit (245 Division) had a “Sanitaets” Company (Divisional Dressing Station) in Oisterwijk.
This “Feld Lazarett” (Field Dressing Station) was under the command of “Stabsartz” (Doctor in Charge) Dr Zink who took the Jeep in his possession, removed the white star and used it as his “dienstauto”  (staffcar).
After the war doctor De Sain, our local G,P at that time, came into the possession of the Jeep and used it to visit his patients.
Rumor says that at a later date the jeep was painted yellow to the grieve of some of the villagers.
Years later it was sold to an unknown buyer.
At present an old American Army Jeep, now painted red, can be seen at some festive occasions.
Is this the Jeep from the glider ?  Who knows ?.

Memoirs of Dr De Sain, 1888-1959

Dr De Sain was during the war and the years after G.P. in the village of Oisterwijk.
He was also the head of the Red Cross in this area.
Do to the effort of Dr De Sain and Pastoor (local priest) van Kemenade, who contacted the British forces, risking their own lives, Oisterwijk was saved from further destruction and was liberated on October 26, 1944.
The exact number of casualties on the allied side is not known, but there are 14 war graves in the cemetery of the st Petrus church in our village.
During the liberation the church, used by the Germans as an observation post, was to a great extend damaged.
Photos taken in the days after the liberation are in my possession and can be made available.
According to non-confirmed information Dr De Sain kept a dairy of the events that occurred during these years and accumulated them into his memoirs.
As Dr De Sain has passed away this cannot be verified.
If any of his writings ever have been published is also not known.
It would be of great interest if any of his papers could be traced and made available to the public.

xtract from the book “Oorlog in Oisterwijk” (war in Oisterwijk) published in the Netherlands in 1984, 40 years after the liberation.

Translation

The following day (18 sept 1944) the air was again covered with the black silhouettes of numerous aircrafts.
The anti-aircraft gun at kerkhoven came again into action and was able to hit a Waco-Glider (later known as the Queen City) which was being pulled by a Dakota aircraft.
The wing of the glider was shot off, the Dakota directly disengaged the towing cable and the glider fell as a leave to the ground landing in a ditch along side the kerkhovensebaan.
In the glider were four soldiers and a Jeep.
The four occupants were crushed by the Jeep which landed on top of them.
All four must have been killed instantly.
Shortly after the incident some people living nearby came to the crash site.
Also the German authorities arrived shortly after.
The wreck was of little interest as the crash destroyed the glider completely.
On the other hand the Jeep, a vehicle unknown to the Germans, was still in good condition and created a lot of interest .
Also the towing rope, made of nylon, which was found some time later was something new to everybody.
The German military confiscated the Jeep, they over painted the white star on the hood and used it as a “staff Car”.
A photocopy of the registration plate belonging to the Jeep is included in this e-mail.
The body’s of the four soldiers were taken away and later buried by pastoor van Kemenade in the local church yard.
The same day a number of other aircrafts were hit and damaged by the German air defense at kerkhoven.
A four-engine Liberator crashed near the area of Winkel in Udenhout,  the entire crew was killed.
Near Huize Assisie an other Dakota with damaged engines crash landed.

Sofar a rough translation of the article under the heading “Oorlogsgeweld” (violence of war).

According to our information the four occupants of the Waco-Glider were,
1st ltn.   R.J Hiltunen  011 03 214
Tech 5  R.J Le May   362 38 013
Pvt        R.L Carson   361 16 352
Fl.Off   NO McCann          ?

The names of these four soldiers are engraved on a plaque located in a little chapel dedicated to the Holy Mary near our village.

The bodies of the four soldiers, which were first buried at the local church yard, were at a later date relocated to an American War Grave Cemetary.
Hiltunen, Le May and Carson are now buried at the American War Cemetary in Margraten, Limburg, Netherlands.
As far as known Fl Off McCann was repatriated  and is buried somewhere in Kentucky.
These four soldiers who died close to our home are by us regarded as “Oisterwijkers” and we made it a habit to visit their graves in Margraten at regular intervals sometimes laying a few flowers as a “thank You”.

As written in your article published on the internet the greatgranddaughter of Fl. Off McCann
is still looking for information about her grandfather.
I hope that this e-mail will reach her and give her a little more understanding about the last days of this member of her family




                                                                                      Best Regards,

ps if you also could replay by email ,i will on request print it out for my heighbours.
they are also taken by this story and are also regular visitors of margraten every year to pay their respect to the crew of the "queen city".
My heighbour is 80 years old and like me  interested in ww2.
when British veterans vissited holland a few times on labor day at 5 mei a few years back they stayed at their home.

we will see how to get over the photo's of the registration plate xtracted from the book “Oorlog in Oisterwijk” (war in Oisterwijk)   and others, and if it is a match.