Sudbury war story echoes through time and families

Alexander May was shot down over Germany during the Second World War. Decades later, his son meets the German family whose property his father crashed into

Laura Stradiotto

Alexander May of Little Current was a bombardier in the Royal Canadian Air Force, earning the rank of Flying Officer in the Second World War. During what was supposed to be his last mission on Feb. 21, 1945, his plane was shot down. May and his comrades parachuted into the darkness, some not as fortunate as he was. May was one of four men who survived; however, he was captured by the Wehrmacht, the armed forces of the Third Reich, and became a prisoner of war.

Fast forward to a few years ago when his son Philip was researching his paternal ancestry. Philip came across an online photo of a memorial plaque outside a home in Oberaussem, Germany, where his father’s plane fell from the sky. The plaque named his father and all the men on the Halifax bomber that went down that fateful night.

May assumed the plaque was erected by the Royal Canadian Air Force after the war to commemorate the men who lost their lives in the crash. But it took an overseas trip to the small town outside Cologne and an encounter with the homeowners to learn the truth. And it surprised him.

Father a ‘real hero’

Philip is a local musician and music teacher. But long before he entered music and education, he was playing with GI Joe and planning to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the military.

“It seemed like the noble thing to do,” he said from his home this summer.

His father struggled with PTSD — although post-SecondWorld War the true ramifications of what was called shell shock or combat fatigue were not completely understood. His father struggled to come to terms with the experience of war and his role in history. He sought comfort in alcohol and that would later end his marriage.

“That was really tough,” said Philip. “I adored my dad. Forget superheroes like Batman, he was the real deal.”

At a pivotal moment in his youth, Philip remembers asking his father if he would be Ok with him pursuing music as a career.

“One of the last things I remember asking my dad was Can I be a musician?”

Alexander May was 13 at the time. His father told him to do what made him happy. Then, a few days later, he died from cancer. Philip went through some tumultuous teen years, playing the bar scene even before he was of age, before regaining ground.

“But here I am, about to turn 63 and my dad’s shadow still haunts me.”

Lucky to escape plane

In 2019, Philip set out to visit Oberaussem in Germany with his wife Rachel to retrace his father’s steps. He wanted to find the plaque and learn more about a part of his father’s past that shaped him into the man he would become, for better or worse.

Canadian bombardiers were expected to participate in some 30 missions before finishing their call of duty. The chance of them surviving was less than 50 per cent.

“Their target that night was Monnheim, Germany,” Philip recounted about what he has learned from his research. “My dad delivered the bomb load on target. As they were flying back, they were hit by flack and the plane started to slowly get out of control and the pilot gave the order to bale out.”

Apparently, the navigator got stuck in the hatch with his parachute and his father had to use as much force as he could to push him through. Then, his father had the same trouble, as he himself was a larger man, and was left with no other choice but to remove his parachute to get through the hatch and then somehow put it back on during his free fall to help him land safely.

“But in doing so, he injured his back,” said Philip.

Surprising reception

It’s important to note, from a historical perspective, this all occurred two weeks after the infamous bombing of Dresden, an aerial bombing attack on Dresden by Allied forces that killed 25,000 people, mostly civilians. Some critics would later claim the bombing served little strategic significance and was a war crime. It was said that if an Allied solder was captured in Germany after this event, it was better to be captured by the army than angry civilians.

His father’s plane crashed onto land owned by the Brüggen family. The night of the crash, the patriarch of the family was serving his country, the Third Reich, and his wife was at home. She heard the explosion. She looked out the window into her background and saw the fire and a lone soldier bury his parachute, the standard security procedure at the time. The parachute was made of silk and another neighbour would later recover it and use the material to make a coat for his daughter. Philip cannot be sure it was his father that she observed running away.

I don’t think our fathers could have imagined that their sons would be walking like brothers up and down the street. It really is remarkable.

Had the plane landed a few hundred feet further, it would have hit an ammunition truck and obliterated the entire town.

So, when Philip and his wife knocked on the Brüggen’s door almost 75 years later, they didn’t know what sort of reception they would receive.

To their surprise, a young woman named Laura answered the door and told the couple to come in. She fetched her parents, Gabrielle and Peter Brüggen. In the next few minutes, Philip would learn that it was Peter’s parents who were the original homeowners, his own mother who witnessed the crash and whose father would later rummage through the wreckage. The Brüggen family welcomed them in a tearful embrace.

“I was blown away by all this,” said Philip. “The plane could have obliterated the whole family.”

Preserving history

Philip also learned that there is an organization in Oberaussem dedicated to preserving local history. The group excavated the Brüggen backyard, recovered bullets and wreckage from the plane, which were later used to decorate a rose bush and create a memorial in the family’s backyard. Philip was lost for words. “I never expected this,” he said.

Philip and Peter would spend the afternoon and next three days together, talking about their fathers and their roles in fighting for their countries.

“I don’t think our fathers could have imagined that their sons would be walking like brothers up and down the street. It really is remarkable.”

Philip invited the family to come to Sudbury the following year. However, due to the pandemic, the reunion was delayed until this summer. Peter and Gabrielle Brüggen are spending a few weeks in Canada, staying with Philip and his wife, visiting Ontario landmarks and catching up from the last few years apart.

Finding reconciliation

Philip is trying to piece together what exactly occurred after his father crashed and before the war ended and he was rescued – about a three-month span.

“The only thing we know is the prisoners were forced to march during one of the coldest winters in Germany. There was no place to sleep. If you ate anything, it was a bit of water with a turnip. If you didn’t keep up, you were executed. It was absolute hell.”

He became a member of the exclusive Caterpillar Club, an international club for aviators, both military and commercial, who successfully parachuted out of a disabled aircraft. But Philip cannot help but feel touched by the kindness of the people of Oberaussem.

“Our planet seems crippled by a chronic existential malaise and a debilitating inability to understand and respect differing points of view,” said Philip. “And while Canada itself is being torn asunder while we struggle to define and come to terms with the notion of reconciliation, I take comfort in knowing that the universal virtues of kindness, compassion, forgiveness and yes, reconciliation, can still be found in the most surprising of places.”

The Local Journalism Initiative is made possible through funding from the federal government.

[email protected]

Twitter: @SudburyStar

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

To contribute to the conversation, you need to be logged in. If you are not yet registered, create your account now - it's FREE.