Postcard showing RAF airman's funeral in Jersey

Postcard showing German soldiers on the island of Jersey carrying the Union flag draped coffin of an RAF airman.  On the night of 10/11th April 1943 Wellington bomber HE213 SE-F of 431 Squadron took off from RAF Burns, Yorkshire, for operations on Frankfurt.  The aircraft ditched in the North Sea approximately 3 miles south west of Jersey.  The pilot, Sgt. W.E. Bidmead, Wop/AG Sgt. E.A. Odling, AG Sgt. Bolke all survived and became prisoners of war.  F/Sgt. George Arnold Booth (AG)  and Sgt. Abraham Holden (Observer) were killed, Holden's body being washed up on St. Queens Bay on 3rd June.  On 6th June he was buried in Mont-a-L'Abbe cemetery along with Sgt. Denis Charles Butlin from 1663 HCU.  The occupying German forces provided full military honours and the roads to the cemetery were lined by islanders paying their respects.  This postcard shows one of the coffins being carried to the graveside.  It has been stamped but is unused.  Stock code P24215A-296.