More than 70 years after plane crash, 4 young air force men buried together

WATCH: One Canadian and three British airmen vanished in October of 1942 while on a training flight. The wreckage was only found last year, more than 70 years later. Today, they were finally laid to rest with full military honours. 

VANCOUVER – More than 70 years after their training flight crashed after taking off from Patricia Bay on Vancouver Island, the remains of four young air force men were laid to rest together.

Royal Canadian Air Force Sgt. William Baird and British Royal Air Force Pilot Officers Charles Fox, Anthony William Lawrence and Sgt. Robert Ernest Luckock took off in an Avro Anson L7056 from the Royal Canadian Air Force base in the morning of Oct. 30, 1942. After heavy fog rolled in they were called back, but their plane crashed and their bodies were never recovered.

On Oct. 25, 2013, loggers working near Lake Cowichan came across the wreckage.

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The four young men were interred in a single grave at a ceremony at Royal Oaks Burial Park in Victoria.

This is not a common event and it is believed this is only the second time in about 60 years this type of ceremony has occurred in Canada.

“It’s giving them their own special day,” says Fracy, “and it’s close enough to the actual anniversary.”

The service took place on Monday with full military honours.

“The aircrew whose remains we buried today were lost without trace in 1942 and for their families and all who loved them, that loss must have caused incalculable pain,” says The Reverend Nick Barry, deputy chaplain-in-chief, Royal Air Force.

“Seventy two years later, while that pain may have numbed, those left behind still bear the reality of a life lived without a father or a brother, and today’s ceremony has been of immense significance to them. It has been my great privilege, and that of the three members of the Queen’s Colour Squadron of the Royal Air Force Regiment who accompanied me to Canada, to participate in this final chapter of the story of those missing men. On behalf of the Royal Air Force, we salute their dedication, courage and sacrifice. Per Ardua ad Astra.”