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RAF crew killed in 1945 plane crash finally laid to rest in Malaysia
Families who flew to attend RAF War burial were relieved to move on from the tragedy...
15:33 20 October 2012
In 1945, just after the World War Two ended, a RAF crew composed of eight flying personnel, flew supplies to WWII prisoners but died after their plane crashed. It is believed that the cause was engine failure.
The remains of eight Royal Air Force crew were finally led to rest, with full military honours, at Cheras War Graves Cemetary in Kuala Lumpur.
Relatives, who flew in to attend the burial, have reportedly said it was a fitting to end to what had happened in August 1945.
Geoffrey Dovey, the brother of Flying Officer Kenneth Dovey, who was the navigator for Liberator KL654, told the BBC: “I'm very pleased that it's all come to an end now.
“We can move on in time but we'll never forget of course. But they've been finally laid to rest which is right and proper.”
The remains of the men were interred in a single grave.
The eight were:
- Flight Sergeant Jack Blakey, age 30 (flight engineer)
- Flying Officer John Trevor Bromfield, 20, of Cheam, Surrey (air bomber)
- Flying Officer William Kenneth Dovey, 20 (navigator)
- Flying Officer Edward Donald Mason, 22 (pilot)
- Flight Sergeant William Ross, 20, of Gateshead, County Durham (air gunner)
- Flight Sergeant Raymond Arthur Towell, 21, of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire (wireless operator/air gunner)
- Flight Sergeant Arthur Turner, 21 (wireless operator/air gunner)
- Flight Lieutenant John Selwyn Watts, 24 (pilot)