The memorial stone to the Steven crew, lost on 14 January 1944 on Texel, the largest of the Dutch Frisian islands, stands in a wooded place called Fonteinsnol on the exact spot where the aircraft crashed.

Three of the crew were found dead at the scene. It is thought that one of them was found sometime after the others for up until the war ended there was an isolated grave in the woods. The woods were off limits during the German occupation, and the photograph below, taken when peace came, shows the islanders had brought flowers to honour the unknown airman. Later, he was reburied at Den Burg with his crewmates. The evidence of the photograph is perhaps more conclusive that that given on the aircraft loss card further down this page.

• THE CREW
• Pilot: F/L Kenneth Munro Steven – Killed, buried in Den Burg Cemetery
• Flight Engineer: F/S Albert C East – PoW
• Navigator: F/S Samuel Stevenson – Killed, buried in Den Burg Cemetery
• Bomb Aimer: P/O Ridley Brown – PoW
• W/Op: F/S William Gadsby – Killed, buried in Den Burg Cemetery
• Mid-Upper Gunner: W/O Clifford John, known as Jack, Skinner – Killed, buried in Den Burg Cemetery
• Rear Gunner: Sgt Leslie Norman John Laver – Killed, buried in Den Burg Cemetery

Left to right: Ace (Albert East); Rid (Ridley Brown); Paddy (Samuel Stevenson); Ken Newman, whose place on the fatal night was taken by Leslie Laver; Bill Gadsby. Paddy and Bill were killed in the shooting-down.

Below: Kenneth Steven, the pilot, who was killed.

The Gunners: Jack Skinner and Leslie Laver, who were both killed.

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The Tragedy of Leslie Laver

Leslie, just 20 years old at the time of his death, has one of the most tragic stories of the many tragedies of the Pathfinders’ war. He had been the rear gunner on the THACKWAY CREW. Placed on ground duties at RAF Station Bourn after the fatal crash which saw him lose all his crew, his first op on returning to operational service was with the Steven crew on 14 January 1944. Having survived the lethal crash in December, he lost his life in mid-January in the shooting-down over Texel. It is possible that he baled and out and was drowned as the Germans informed one of the survivors, Ridley Brown, that two of the crew had been washed up on the shore of the island; it is Brown’s testimony on the aircraft loss card.

Leslie’s mother Jenny wrote this tribute to her beloved youngest child, to be inscribed upon his tombstone in Den Burg cemetery:

ALTHOUGH YOU’VE GONE, MY BOY, I KNOW THAT SOME DAY WE’LL MEET AGAIN IN A WORLD OF GLADNESS.