229815 Sgt. Gordon E. Empson Royal Air Force 218 Sqdn. My brother Gordon E. Empson, was a sergeant air bomber when he was shot down over Hamburg with the rest of his crew on 24/25th July 1943. They were flying a Sterling III of 218 Squadron that was first hit by flak over the target and soon afterwards was attacked and shot down by a night-fighter (Uffz Walter Rohlfing). The aircraft crashed at 01.45 at Ahrenswohlde 17 km SW of Buxtehude. Gordon and four other members of the crew became POWs in Stalag 4B; they were Sgt H Turner, P/O H J Lister, Sgt W L Strand and Sgt B O Anderson RCAF. Sgt R S Pickard (pilot) and Sgt E C Bray RCAF, were sadly killed. Strangely, official records appear to show that Gordon and his fellow crew members were interned in Stalag Luft 3 rather than Stalag 4B which I believe not to have been the case. Sadly, Gordon passed away in 2004. I would be most grateful, therefore, to hear from any fellow aircrew or POWs who remembered him.
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