Le Bouveret ED412 & Thyon ED531 80th anniversary ceremony, RAF and ANZAC casualties in Switzerland

13 July 2023 was the 80th anniversary of these aircraft crashes in Swiss territory. ED412 crashed on a mountain above Le Bouveret, one of the seven crew being an Australian. ED531, with five Australian crew members, crashed further down in the canton of Valais at the Thyon ski resort. I wrote an earlier blog about Thyon.

The mission had planned to fly south as far as Annecy before turning to cross the alps. Due to bad weather, approximately one hundred aircraft went the wrong way, entering Switzerland over the Jura.

British, Australians and representatives of the local commune gathered to recognize these airmen today with a ceremony at the Le Bouveret monument.

There are relatively few people still alive who witnessed or survived the events of WW2. The 80th anniversary commemorations, up to 2025, may be the last opportunities to meet some of these people and capture their testimonials.

Here are some photos and a video of Ray Saunders' performance at the monument:

Please see some of my other pages about Anzac sites that I've visited around the world and the micro-sites I'm creating at Anzac.site