When the war had finally come to a close the people of Gesves decided that they would very much like to honour the memory of the crew of Flying Officer Oldham who had fallen within their village boundaries. It was decided to erect a memorial at the site of the crash as a gesture of remembrance and gratitude for the sacrifice of seven young men from a foreign country. The splendid memorial was erected and, on the 4th July 1948, this was officially dedicated in a most moving ceremony. This was attended by all the local dignitaries, members of the council and all the local villagers. The guests of honour were the representatives of the families of the dead aircrew, who had been traced in Britain and were treated with great sympathy and wonderful hospitality throughout their visit.

The Memorial was moved slightly nearer the road several years ago to be more accessible to visitors and annually, On Armistice Day, a service of Remembrance is held at the memorial to perpetuate and honour the memory of Flying Officer Oldham and his crew and also the Belgian, British and many other nationalities who have fallen in the two world wars.

Thanks to the hard work, enthusiasm and perseverance of Rene Romainville in his research it was possible to trace many family members of Flying Officer Oldham and his crew. In October 1998, the sisters of Eric Wilkins and Ronald Freeman were able to visit Gesves and attend a commemorative service at the memorial as guests of the people of Gesves. Later they were the guests of honour at a reception in the village. The following day they visited the graves of the crew at Florennes to pay their respects to their late brothers and the other members of the crew. The two ladies were entertained in the afternoon at the local Belgian Air Force base. The hospitality and consideration received during the visit was most generous and both ladies were very thankful and very moved by the whole experience.

Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Rene Romainville for permission to use parts of his most detailed and thorough work on Flying Officer Oldham and his crew and also the photographs and map. In addition we are also grateful to the many family members of this crew who have supplied information, documents and photographs, the newspapers and magazines and all the others who have contributed to the completion of this project.

The mothers of F/O Oldham, Sgt Wilkins and F/O Lamb lay wreaths on the memorial.

The headstone of Sgt Freeman at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Florennes.

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