The monument

On the spot of the crash of the Baggy Maggy now stands the third monument to commemorate the late William Kirlin Jr.

The first monument was a simple cross placed here by the local people to commemorate William Kirlin. The only thing we know about this 'monument', we know from oral history. After studying the eye-witnesses we could make a drawing of the first monument.

Drawing of the 1st monument that remembers us of Bill Kirlin.

A few years after the war, the first cross was replaced by a more permanent 'monument'. Thanks to mr. Karel Geerts we can show you this more official monument that remembers us of Bill Kirlin. Despite the fact that this new 'monument' was of better quality than the first one, it disappeared in the mid 1950s due to reconstruction of the Hoogstratensebaan, the road along the monument.

The second monument for Bill Kirlin Jr. (photo: Mr. Karel Geerts)

Thanks to the celebration of 50 years of liberation in 1994 we now have a permanent monument for Bill Kirlin Jr. Thanks to Arie de Jong, Ed Ragas and Jos van Roozendaal this monument was made after they had written to the local authorities about the fact that the 'original' monument had disappeared and that it was a duty to replace it with a new monument to remember the only US soldier who died on the soil of our community.

Thanks to the extensive research of Jos van Roozendaal, nearly all crewmembers could be traced back and it filled the hearts of many people from Baarle with warm feelings that three crewmembers of the Baggy Maggy, Richard Scott, George Sadler and Eugene Shabatura, and the sister of Bill Kirlin, Gertrude Stuber-Kirlin could attend the unveiling of the monument on September 18th 1994.

The unveiling of the monument by mrs. Gertrude Stuber Kirlin

The guests from the USA listening to the US National Anthem after the unveiling.

Gertrude Stuber-Kirlin addressing the audience after the unveiling of the monument. She was very moved when she saw the beautiful picture of her brother Bill on the monument.