MISSING AIRMEN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22242, 30 January 1947, Page 5

MISSING AIRMEN

THOROUGH SEARCH

WORK ON CONTINENT

PREPARATION OF GRAVES (From A. \V. Mitcholl, Special Representative of (lio X.Z. Press Assn.) (10 a.m.) LONDON. Jan. 29.

•'Every effort is being made to make sure that no New Zealanders who were shot down over Europe will lie in unidentified graves." said Air Commodore M. W. Buckley, Air Officer Commanding R.N.Z.A.F. headquarters London, who recently visited all the R.A.F. missing and inquiry units on the Continent. “All the search teams are manned by conscientious, painstaking officers who are determined to make exhaustive inquiries to locate and identfy missing airmen,” he said. Air Commodore Buckley learned, from Air Marshal Sir Philip Wigllesworth. Officer Commanding British air forces of occupation, and from R.N.Z.A.F. personnel engaged on search duties the very difficult task of finding and identifying the missing men

Tracing of Eye-Witnesses

“Throughout the war there was a great movement of population on the Continent.” said Air Commodore Buckley," and although it is often possible to establish that an aircraft crashed in the vicinty of a particular town or village, it is difficult to find witnesses who can remember five or six years back and provide details of where the aircraft fell and where the bodies were buried.” “Many aircraft, of course, crashed in wild, broken country and were never seen to fall. They have now become completely overgrown and it is certain that some will never be found. The greater proportion of missing aircraft fell in the sea'and, in most cases, no news can be expected by next of kin regarding the fate of men who met their death in this way. , “Two major points which emerge from a study of the work being done are, first, that there is no likelihood of any personnell still missing 1 being found alive; secondly, it is probable that although only a proportion of the bodies of missing personnel will be found and identified, it will be a substantial proportion and it is likely that all these will be identified and interred in a military cemetery this year.”

The cemeteries where New Zealanders are interred and which were visited by Air Commodore Buckley, were Gravelund, Esbjerg and Aabrenaa, in Jutland, and Svino, in Denmark; Kiel Hamburg, Soltan, Rheinburg, Reichwald Forest, in Germany; Maagratcn. in Holland; Antwerp in Belgium; and Cambrai and Saint Omer, in France. War Graves’ Work

“The Imperial War Graves Commission intends to leave casualties in local cemeteries where they were originally interred, and where such cemeteries are in Allied territory and under the .care of the Allied Powers,” said Air Commodore Buckley. “Personnel interred in Germany, however, are being

moved to British military cemeteries in Germany, where the cemeteries are under the commission's care. This work of concentrating personnel in British cemeteries is a difficult task, and it will be some months before all the bodies are moved and before the headstones are erected and roads and pathways laid. “For this reason the action of the Imperial War Graves Commission in discouraging visits by next-of-kin until nil the cemeteries are completed and properly laid out is strongly supported. Apart from the difficulties of accommodation and travel on the Continent, working parties would be seriously disturbed by the presence of visitors, and their work should be completed before next-of-kin are encouraged to make visits. “As soon as this work is completed, Ihe uublic will be free to pay visits but, meanwhile, they must exercise patience.” Air Commodore Buckley added that in order to ensure that the interests of New Zealand next-of-kin are safeguarded and their many enquiries investigated. arrangements have been made to attach to search units a team of R.N.Z A.F. officers. They are Squadron Leader W. G. Birnie, of Ashburton, and Flight Lieutenants H. J. Prior of Hastings, L. M. Bailey, of Hawera, R. ,T. Hodgson, of Wellington, and C. E. Baxter, of Waimate.