Burial with honors for the Red Baron

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

On 22 April 1918, a military funeral was held in France.

That is the chaplain and a guard of honour from the No. 3 Squadron Australian Flying Corps, who were fighting against Germany in World War I as part of the Allied forces. The man they were burying was Manfred von Richthofen, who you may know better as “The Red Baron,” the German ace who shot down at least 80 Allied aircraft before someone got him. The Baron still landed his plane in good order although mortally wounded.

Several Allied units in the area were represented in the funeral, and one laid a wreath dedicated to “Our Gallant And Worthy Foe.”

His grave has been moved multiple times since then and his remains now finally lie in peace in what is left of his homeland. But you can see here that there is often great respect between fighting men forced by the hand of fate to be enemies.

[Buckshot Bear]

Some of his items in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Father Kit Cool Gun Garth]

Buried with Honour

The Red Baron was given a military funeral with full honours. ‘The Times’ of 24 April 1918 paints a rather beautiful and moving picture of the funeral:

‘Captain Baron von Richthofen’s funeral yesterday afternoon was a simple but impressive ceremony. The coffin, which was borne by six officers of the Royal Air Force, was deposited in ground in the corner of the French cemetery in a little village from ground near which, before the ceremony, one could look at Amiens Cathedral, standing very clear and beautiful in the afternoon sun. The English Service was read, and the last salute fired over the grave.’

At his death Richthofen was just 25 years old.

 

[Father Kit Cool Gun Garth]

There are no known surviving original Fokker Dr.I triplanes, the aircraft flown by Manfred von Richthofen, also known as the Red Baron, during World War I. The last original plane was destroyed by Allied bombs in Berlin in 1945 while on display in a museum. However, there are reproductions of the plane in museums and in private collections, and some aircraft fragments are also in museums.

https://airforcemuseum.co.nz/blog/within-the-glass-case-the-red-baron/


A great deal of ‘souveniring’ took place when Richthofen’s aircraft crashed inside allied lines on 21 April 1918. Captain Roy Brown was credited for shooting down the Baron. Eyewitnesses recalled that when the aircraft’s fabric was torn off, a bystander made away with the propeller.