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A new monument for all the missing airmen lost over the North Sea, regardless of their nationality, was unveiled on the 19th of October in Egmond aan Zee, the centre of the so called “Gap”, in the Netherlands. This striking memorial has been created from five hundred identity tags which form an airman standing on the North Sea bed. Each tag bears a first name of an actual missing person.

The Lost over Sea Tribute is unveiled, 19 October 2024.
(Credit: Egmond ’40-’45)

The Egmond ’40-’45 Foundation manage the Jansje Schong bunker museum in the North Dunes of Egmond aan Zee in the Netherlands. The museum tells the story of Egmond aan Zee during the Second World War.

The following is shared from the Lost Monument website https://lostmonument.nl/vermisten-op-zee/

In February 2022, during storm Eunice, wreckage from a British bomber from the Second World War washed up on the beach of Camperduin. It was a fuselage section of a British Short Stirling, which most likely crashed in the North Sea on 17 December 1942. The entire crew was killed. The eight crew members are still missing to this day.

Research into this aircraft brought the museum into contact with relatives of the aircrew. One of the relatives suggested the idea of ​​erecting a monument. This got the Foundation thinking: why not a monument for all missing crew members above the North Sea? That is how the idea was born to erect the LOST monument, an acronym for Lost Over Sea Tribute.

The monument is made of epoxy, encased in a stainless-steel casing, representing an aircraft truss. The epoxy depicts an aviator using various identity plates. All crew members had one thing in common: regardless of nationality, they all wore an identity tag.

In the monument these tags are formed together again into a person, ​​commemorating airmen together. Each nameplate bears the name of an actual missing person above the North Sea.

The LOST memorial at Egmond aan Zee in the Netherlands.
(Credit: Egmond ’40-’45)

The LOST monument is approximately two meters high and weighs approximately 600 kilos. LED light shines through the monument from above, making it a sight to behold even at night.

The Foundation wanted to commemorate as broad a group as possible. That means not only the Allies, but also German aircrews who died. In addition, not only in the North Sea but also those that crashed in the Channel and were washed up in the municipality of Egmond.

The LOST memorial can be seen at the beginning of the Boulevard Noord in Egmond aan Zee.