Tiffin Alumnus John Michael Campbell was born on the 18th August 1912 and entered Tiffin School on the 15th September 1924. He lived in Thames Ditton. He was a member of Kingsley House and also a member of the school Scout Troop. On leaving in 1928 he joined the school Rover Crew. In his last two years at school he was also a member of the School Cadet Force being a member of “B” Company of the 8th Cadet Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment.

 On leaving school he took up an apprenticeship in Printing and Publishing working for several employers in the Fleet Street area. His special interests were in amateur acting and cinematography where his printing skills came in very usefully.

In the autumn of 1940 he volunteered to serve as aircrew in the RAF and trained as a Wireless Operator and Air Gunner. His initial training was in the UK and then he was transferred to Manitoba in Canada for further training. Eventually he passed out first in his class, his technical skills in wireless telegraphy being particularly noted, and was granted a commission as a Flying Officer. 

On his return to the UK he was posted to 281 Squadron (Gold Coast), flying Stirling Bombers, from Downham Market. It was at the end of his first tour of duty, which meant 30 Operations, that he and his crew failed to return from a night time bombing raid on Berlin on the 29 March 1943. It was presumed that the aircraft, BK716, had either been shot down by flak or by a night fighter over the Netherlands or the North Sea. At the end of the war it was determined from German records that the plane had probably been shot down in the early hours of 30th March by a night fighter over the Netherlands but there was no recorded crash site.

His name is commemorated here in the School Hall, and on the RAF memorial at Runnymede for RAF personnel who have no known grave.

 However that is not quite the end of the story.

In 2008 a dredging operation in the Markermeer (Lake Marker), near the town of Almere in the Netherlands, brought to the surface the under carriage remains of an aircraft. The Dutch Government then placed a prohibition on any further dredging or fishing in the immediate area until further investigation could be carried out. Radar surveys confirmed the remains of an aircraft on the lake bed.

In August 2020 the Dutch Government, as part of the National Recovery Programme for aircraft wrecks, began an official salvage operation. Initial airframe items recovered indicated that the plane was a Stirling and finally an engine, with its serial number still intact, showed that it was from BK 716. Also recovered were guns, munitions, personal items and some very degraded human remains.

Next of kin of all seven of the crew members were immediately informed by the Dutch and U.K. Ministries of Defence of the discovery. One personal item recovered was the cigarette case of John Michael Campbell which was eventually presented to his niece.

On 12th October 2021 a memorial to the crew of BK 716 was unveiled by a member of the Dutch Royal family in the Resistance Memorial Park, known as the Field of the Unyielding, in Almere. Family members of the crew were present at the ceremony.

Further investigation of the human remains using DNA by Dutch and U.K. authorities proved it impossible to identify any actual individuals. On 28 September 2022 a full military burial ceremony was held at the CWGC Jonkerbos War Cemetery, near Nijmegen, with next of kin from the U.K. , Canada and New Zealand present. Also present were officials from the town of Almere as well as many people from the town. All the human remains were interred in one coffin and a headstone, with RAF and RCAF symbols, installed.

The Dutch National Recovery Programme is part of their Government’s duty of care and debt of honour to all those in the Allied Forces who died in the cause of their Freedom.