pbfoot
1st Lieutenant
I believe the story was posted earlier but I can't locate it but it deserves a follow up as they were buried today
KRAKOW, Poland – The remains of Canadian and British crewmen of a Royal Air Force bomber shot down in the Second World War were buried Thursday in southern Poland with full military honours.
The Halifax bomber was shot down in 1944 by the Nazis while on a mission to drop weapons and other supplies to Polish resistance fighters, but was only recovered last year.
Relatives of the airmen attended a mass at the military church in the historic city of Krakow, near where the plane was downed, before the burial in the military section of the city's Rakowicki cemetery.
Two British and two Canadian pall bearers carried a single small wooden coffin for burial containing the remains of all the crewmen as a Polish Air Force honour guard stood to attention.
British and Canadian Air Force chaplains said prayers over the coffin before it was lowered into the ground while more than a dozen relatives of the crewmen looked on.
"This is a closure," said Cheryl Blynn, 52, of Paradise, Nova Scotia, whose father's brother piloted the plane on its ill-fated final flight. "We now know where they are."
The crew, all members of the RAF's 148 Squadron, included five Canadians: Flight Lt. Arnold Raymond Blynn, of Plympton, Nova Scotia, who was 26 when he died; Flying Officer Harold Leonard Brown, 20, of Huron County, Ont.; Pilot Officer George Alfred Chapman, 24, of Toronto; Flight Sgt. Arthur George William Liddell, 31, of Montreal and Flight Sergeant Charles Burton Wylie, 20, of Hazenmore, Sask.; and two Britons: Sgt. Kenneth James Ashmore, 32; and Sgt. Frederick George Wenham, 21.
The Halifax JP-276A took off on its final flight from the Italian city of Brindisi around 8 p.m. on Aug. 4, 1944, to drop weapons, ammunition and medical supplies for resistance fighters involved in the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis.
Resistance fighters took control of the capital but were eventually defeated by the Germans amid tremendous destruction and loss of life.
The plane was shot down by Poland's Nazis occupiers and crashed near the town of Dabrowa Tarnowska, in southern Poland.
Local residents at the time found some remains and buried them in a local cemetery, then later had them moved to the Rakowicki cemetery in Krakow – a burial site for some of Poland's most respected figures, including the parents of Pope John Paul II.
The aircraft stayed buried deep in the fields for 60 years, until the residents disclosed its existence to the Warsaw Uprising museum.
In November 2006, the museum's historians recovered the badly damaged wreckage of the Halifax, more remains, documents, maps, two revolvers and personal belongings including a pocket knife and an airman's gilded badge.
The historians also found containers with supplies that the crew did not have time to drop.
The museum opened an exhibition on the find on Aug. 4, the 63rd anniversary of the plane being shot down.
DNA from the relatives was used to identify the remains and a Canadian veterans' organization arranged for the burial
KRAKOW, Poland – The remains of Canadian and British crewmen of a Royal Air Force bomber shot down in the Second World War were buried Thursday in southern Poland with full military honours.
The Halifax bomber was shot down in 1944 by the Nazis while on a mission to drop weapons and other supplies to Polish resistance fighters, but was only recovered last year.
Relatives of the airmen attended a mass at the military church in the historic city of Krakow, near where the plane was downed, before the burial in the military section of the city's Rakowicki cemetery.
Two British and two Canadian pall bearers carried a single small wooden coffin for burial containing the remains of all the crewmen as a Polish Air Force honour guard stood to attention.
British and Canadian Air Force chaplains said prayers over the coffin before it was lowered into the ground while more than a dozen relatives of the crewmen looked on.
"This is a closure," said Cheryl Blynn, 52, of Paradise, Nova Scotia, whose father's brother piloted the plane on its ill-fated final flight. "We now know where they are."
The crew, all members of the RAF's 148 Squadron, included five Canadians: Flight Lt. Arnold Raymond Blynn, of Plympton, Nova Scotia, who was 26 when he died; Flying Officer Harold Leonard Brown, 20, of Huron County, Ont.; Pilot Officer George Alfred Chapman, 24, of Toronto; Flight Sgt. Arthur George William Liddell, 31, of Montreal and Flight Sergeant Charles Burton Wylie, 20, of Hazenmore, Sask.; and two Britons: Sgt. Kenneth James Ashmore, 32; and Sgt. Frederick George Wenham, 21.
The Halifax JP-276A took off on its final flight from the Italian city of Brindisi around 8 p.m. on Aug. 4, 1944, to drop weapons, ammunition and medical supplies for resistance fighters involved in the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis.
Resistance fighters took control of the capital but were eventually defeated by the Germans amid tremendous destruction and loss of life.
The plane was shot down by Poland's Nazis occupiers and crashed near the town of Dabrowa Tarnowska, in southern Poland.
Local residents at the time found some remains and buried them in a local cemetery, then later had them moved to the Rakowicki cemetery in Krakow – a burial site for some of Poland's most respected figures, including the parents of Pope John Paul II.
The aircraft stayed buried deep in the fields for 60 years, until the residents disclosed its existence to the Warsaw Uprising museum.
In November 2006, the museum's historians recovered the badly damaged wreckage of the Halifax, more remains, documents, maps, two revolvers and personal belongings including a pocket knife and an airman's gilded badge.
The historians also found containers with supplies that the crew did not have time to drop.
The museum opened an exhibition on the find on Aug. 4, the 63rd anniversary of the plane being shot down.
DNA from the relatives was used to identify the remains and a Canadian veterans' organization arranged for the burial
