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It has been learned that relatives of airmen who died in the tragedy of World War II are staying in Canada.
The Halifax bomber crashed on Cleeve Common, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, killing all seven people on board.
A memorial service will be held this year to honor the men who were murdered in the early hours of August 26, 1944.
Ed Stoltz, a relative of one of the victims, said this will provide “closure” for the family.
All seven crew members of Flight MZ311, many of whom were Canadian, were killed in the accident.
The bomber was returning from a raid on the French coast and is believed to have been flying low.
Reports at the time said the plane appeared to have veered off its return flight path when it crashed into Cleeve Hill at about 200 mph.
Neither the RAF investigation nor the subsequent tribunal of inquiry could fully establish the cause of the crash, as all systems on board appeared to be in good order.
In December 2022, members of the Royal Air Force Association and Cleeve Common Trust unveiled a memorial to RAF crews near the top of Cleeve Hill.
The monument comes from the nearby Common Quarry and will be officially dedicated in August, on the 80th anniversary of the crash.
Halifax bomber rear gunner John Alexander Glenn was 19 years old when he was killed.
His great-nephew, Ed Stoltz, was contacted by members of the Royal Air Force Association in Cheltenham in 2023 after contacting a local museum about some of the items that belonged to his uncle.
He told CBC that the father and daughter will accompany him to the UK for the service.
“My daughter is 18, so when she graduates she will be the same age as most of these people.
“She really absorbed it and was able to look around and say, this is what kids her age were doing at the time.”
Sergeant Emmanuel Harris, 20, had been married to Pauline Fieldhouse’s mother for just over a month when he died in the accident.
Pauline regularly visits the grave and lays flowers, just as her mother did 17 years ago.
“I just think it’s my duty,” she told the BBC.
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