Joseph Marie Phillipe Bongaerts DFC, FC, OHK1
War hero and developer of the Groningen gas field
...
Jo Bongaerts enlisted in the Marine Luchtvaart Dienst
(MLD), the air force of the Royal Netherland Navy,
and trained as a pilot in the Dutch East Indies. On returning to
Britain he was retrained by the RAF as a navigator and served in
Mitchell B25 bombers with 320 Squadron. He was severely injured when
his plane crash landed on the 25 October 1943 returning from a raid on
a German airfield near Brest and was awarded the DFC. He told his son
that “I couldn’t let my friends go to war, alone!”
and after eight months in hospital and rehabilitation he retrained as
second pilot and returned to active service with 320 Squadron.
