In October 2012, Diana Bentley, Wal Watson’s niece, who now lives in London, visited Follega and nearby Lemmer, with the help of Douwe Drijver and Alexander Tuinhout of the Stichting Missing Airmen Memorial Foundation of North Holland. There, she saw many monuments to aircrews who had lost their lives in the area, which prompted the idea of a monument for Wal and his crew.

The visit was inspired by the work of Dave Cheetham, the Archivist of the 7 Squadron Association, and the nephew of Jimmy Hurst, the Mid Upper Gunner in the crew who had conducted a long study of the crew and the crash. In 1994, Dave visited Lemmer and Follega and met Marten Bangma on the Bangma farm. It was Dave’s research that provided the

information on the crash for Hinchliffe’s biography of Schnauffer, which he shared with Diana when they became friends in the 7 Squadron Association.

Later, Diana met Melvin Chambers, who lives in the Netherlands and who is involved in preserving the memory of Bomber Command airmen and especially, Les Knight, DSO, an Australian pilot who had taken part in the Dambusters raid and who later died when his plane crashed near Melvin’s home town of Den Ham. After seven years of preparation, a stone monument for the crew will be placed in the small park of Follega. Many locals have supported this, especially the local authority, De Fryske Marren and the IJB Group, which is building the monument’s foundations. Harm Vollema, a local businessman in Lemmer, is also providing significant help for the project. The unveiling of the monument is expected to take place in late June, 2025 with national and local dignitaries being present, family of the crew members from England and Australia and a large group of 7 Squadron members.