Ahh Icare9, you're just being clever now!! Indeed the letters are from Gilbert Pate - my great uncle was his navigator and also rests in Lezennes. I visited the graves in 2009 on the anniversary of the raid from which they failed to return - the locals put on a small ceremony at the gravesite, attended by the Mayor and a small media contingent. Quite overwhelming, really.
Phil Smith - the only survivor, as you say, of the 84 men lost that night - only passed away in 2003. My family and I discovered he was still alive in 1996 and we became quite good friends until his death - I remain in touch with his widow. Phil never knew exactly what happened to the aircraft. All he remembered was everything going hot and dry and red, and then he was falling. He evaded capture, being sheltered by a French family about 50km south of Lille, until the invasion forces passed in September 1944. Quite a remarkable man!
I traced Gilbert Pate's family last year, which is where the letters come from.
Adam