Posted on 09/30/2007 11:03:03 AM PDT by lizol
Canadians killed over Poland in 1944 to be re-buried
CanWest News Service Published: Saturday, September 29, 2007
OTTAWA -- Remains of a crew of Canadian and British airmen killed when their bomber was shot down over Poland in 1944 will be re-buried in a solemn ceremony next month in Krakow.
Family members of the five Canadian crew members will join David Preston, Canada's ambassador to Poland, British and Polish civilian and military officials, pallbearers, a bagpiper and a chaplain at a rededication Oct. 4 at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery in Poland.
"The airmen of Halifax Bomber JP276 served valiantly, and they represented Canadian values and traditions in the finest sense," said Defence Minister Peter MacKay. "Today, these same values and traditions are carried on by our service men and women."
On Aug. 4, 1944, all seven crew members were killed when their aircraft was shot down over Poland. Five were Canadians: Flight Lieut. Arnold Raymond Blynn, Flying Officer Harold Leonard Brown, Pilot Officer George Alfred Chapman, Flight Sgt. Arthur George William Liddell and Flight Sgt. Charles Burton Wylie.
The plane was part of a Royal Air Force squadron delivering weapons, ammunition and supplies to the Polish Home Army fighting Nazi troops in the historic Warsaw Uprising.
Two members of the RAF, Sgt. Kenneth James Ashmore and Sgt. Frederick George Wenham, were also killed in the crash. Their remains were initially buried in a single grave at a cemetery near the crash site.
In 1948, the grave was exhumed and the remains transferred to Rakowicki Cemetery, a Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in Krakow.
In 2006, a team of Polish archaeologists and historians began digging at the site to recover the plane's wreckage, and ended up retrieving additional remains. Using DNA from relatives of the crash victims, the Department of National Defence confirmed in August 2007 that the remains were those of the JP276 air crew.
These remains will be interred in the crew's existing gravesite during a ceremony organized by the Canadian Department of National Defence in collaboration with the Royal Air Force.
"I am pleased that we are able to ensure family members of these Canadian airmen are present at the rededication ceremony of their loved ones," said Greg Thompson, Minister of Veterans Affairs. "We remember these men, and we remember what they were fighting for -- peace, freedom and the rule of law. We will never forget what they sacrificed so that we could live freely today."
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