ESTEVAN, Sask. — Two people reflected on their respective family members' air force service during ceremonies in Estevan to honour the victims of a September 1946 plane crash south of the city.
Wayne Younghusband, the nephew of Flight Officer Henry Cowan, and Diane Primeau, the niece of Flight Lt. Bill Weicker, spoke at the Estevan branch of the Royal Canadian Legion on Sept. 13 — two days before the 80th anniversary of the tragedy.
Younghusband spoke by video from Ottawa. He noted the 21 airmen who died in the crash served their country, returned home and died in the "horrific crash."
He pointed out his uncle learned to fly in the late 1930s just east of Ottawa. While overseas during the war, he served with the Royal Canadian Air Force's No. 424 Tiger Squadron, based in Yorkshire, and flew Halifax and Lancaster bombers.
"In the last year of the war, he was flying a Lancaster named Piccadilly Princess, and my grandfather had a large picture of the soaring aircraft mounted over the fireplace at the cottage," Younghusband said.
Cowan also wrote 40 letters to Younghusband's grandmother, which she kept. One particular correspondence, from June 1944, was particularly interesting, Younghusband said, as it included details of a planned overnight raid.
"Don't let anybody ever kid you; there isn't a man over there who isn't scared stiff. With no shame, I can say that I now know what real fear is," Cowan wrote in the letter after chronicling the number of planes involved in close formation.
In the summer of 1946, while Cowan was stationed in the same area where he learned to fly, he occasionally flew a plane near his family's cottage in Quebec and performed a flyover to the delight of family members.
While Younghusband spoke, three frames were unveiled with memorabilia to share the story of the crash and remember the airmen who died. The first was a crash frame, which includes a summary of the purpose of the Royal Canadian Air Force activity related to the return of the aircraft to the U.S.
Photographs of the crash site show the extent of the damage and the wreckage spread over a wide area. Newspaper articles provide an account of the crash.
A piece of parachute recovered from the wreckage is included, as is a copy of one of 21 RCAF telegrams sent to next of kin.
The second frame has photos of the 21 airmen who died. Younghusband noted they had served overseas in bomber, fighter and coastal command squadrons, flying in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Eleven were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Victims ranged in age from 20 to 34 and the average age was 26. Younghusband noted six each were from Saskatchewan and Ontario. Four were from Manitoba, two hailed from Quebec and one each came from Alberta, B.C. and the U.S. Thirteen were married and 17 children were left without a father.
The final frame on remembrance shows items related to activities commemorating the crash and remembering the airmen. It includes a copy of Marie Donais Calder's book Together Forever in the Clouds, a photo of the memorial cairn placed near the crash site, a picture of memorial banners created for the airmen, copies of logbook pages and a letter one of the airmen sent to his brother.
Younghusband thanked Theresa Fuhr and Byron Fichter from Art Concepts Custom Framing for producing the memorial frames, which will be displayed at the Estevan branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.
Meanwhile, Diane Primeau, who travelled to Estevan from her home in Grande Prairie, Alta., for the event, said she is one of only two people left in her family who met Bill Weicker, who is buried in Kitchener, Ont.
"Our uncle Bill was a family-oriented man. He was single and he spent time with even the youngest of us," said Primeau.
She remembers he came home for the memorial service of his brother Carl, who was a navigator with Bomber Command. Carl Weicker's plane was shot down over Germany weeks before the end of the Second World War.
"I can't imagine my grandmother's grief to lose her youngest son at age 21, and then … losing Bill just a month shy of his 31st birthday," said Primeau, adding Bill Weicker was the second-youngest of six children.
All of the airmen who died that day had families who loved them, she said, and have stories and memories about them. Distance and health issues prevent them from being in Estevan for the ceremony.
The families of the airmen are grateful that there are some exceptional people in the Estevan area who want to make sure the airmen are remembered, Primeau said. The event was organized by the Together Forever in the Clouds committee.
"Thank you for honouring and remembering our loved ones in so many huge ways," said Primeau, who closed with a poem by Estevan's Lester Hinzman — the man who commissioned the Forever in the Clouds monument that now stands northeast of the city at one of the South East Military Museum's locations.
