During the Second World War, a Royal Canadian Air ForceLancaster Bomber was forced to crash land near Cirey-sur-Vezouze after a bombing raid on Stuttgart. Three of the crew were killed in the crash landing with a further two airmen (including Flight Sergeant Fordham) being apprehended, taken into the nearby forest and summarily executed by German forces. Three war graves lay in Cirey-sur-Vezouze's graveyard[citation needed], with the shallow graves in the forest being discovered and exhumed by a team led by Major Eric Barksworth.[3]