Last remains buried with airmen

Kyt · Mar 17, 2009

3 News > National > Story > Last of body parts finally buried with WW2 airmen

Almost 65 years after they died when their 31 Squadron air force fighter bomber was shot down, all the body parts of three New Zealand airmen have re-united in their graves.

The three died when their Air Force Grumman Avenger was shot down by the Japanese over Rabaul, Papua New Guinea in June, 1944.

The bodies of Flight Lieutenant Charles Gordon Gladstone Prior, Flying Officer Rodney Earnest Clayton and Warrant Officer Theo Raymond Scarlett were found by an Australian war graves unit two years later and buried, although the exact site of their burial was not known.

They were later exhumed and buried at Bourail in New Caledonia, said the air force's principal chaplain Wing Commander Ross Falconer.

However, in 2001 an American military unit found the crash site again and believed it was an American Avenger and contained American bodies.

Only a few body parts were found at the crash site and they were taken to a laboratory in Hawaii but closer inspection, including DNA testing, revealed the body parts were from the New Zealanders who had died in the 1944 crash.

Mr Falconer said relatives of two of the three dead airmen were tracked down after the chief of air force, Air Vice Marshal Graham Lintott, ordered that they be treated with the honour and dignity they deserved.

The remains were returned to New Zealand on an Air Force Boeing 757 and then taken to Bourail to be buried with the bodies at the New Zealand Military Cemetery.

For Mr Falconer, the return to Bourail with the body parts was a unique time. His father also flew Avengers in the same squadron and trained with the dead airmen. His log book showed he was flying on another raid the day the Avenger was shot down.

Mr Falconer said the burial of the last body parts late last year gave a sense of completion.

"The main thing from the RNZAF's factor was honouring those three air crew with due honour and dignity."

He said the relatives had told him they had grieved since the war but were grateful the burial process had been completed.
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avenger3

Antipodean Andy · Mar 17, 2009

Fine men, one and all. RIP.

I'll have a look for them in Vol 3 of Errol Martyn's For Your Tomorrow. Have been itching to break it out and come to grips with it. Unfortunately, I don't have the hard to get Vol 2 which would give a good narrative.

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