RAF Navigator recovers remains of comrade 64 years later.
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RAF Navigator recovers remains of comrade 64 years later.
The RAF bomber pilot who recovered the body of the co-pilot he lost on Berlin raid 60 years ago | Mail Online
Crammed together in their unwieldy aircraft and utterly dependent on one another, the bomber crews of the Second World War forged friendships that often only death could break.
Which is why Pilot Officer Reg Wilson never forgot the night more than 60 years ago when he lost two friends in the night skies over Germany.
As he entered his old age - the memories of his youth perhaps more powerful than ever - Mr Wilson began a quest to find their remains.
Yesterday he told how at last he had succeeded in finding one of those friends, flight engineer Sergeant John Bremner, and finally laying him to rest.
Sergeant Bremner will be buried with full honours at the Heerstrasse War Cemetery in Berlin next Thursday.
'It's only right that John is honoured,' said Mr Wilson, of Chigwell, Essex.
'Thousands of good men, like John, lost their lives. It must not be forgotten. It will be an emotional, but happy, day.'
Sergeant Bremner died aged 21 on the night of January 20, 1944, when 800 aircraft raided the German capital.
Among the 27 aircraft lost was Halifax LW337 from 102 Squadron based at RAF Pocklington near York.
The aircraft - nicknamed Old Flo by her eight-man crew - was heading for home when she was hit by anti-aircraft fire.
Another survivor from Old Flo, rear-gunner Sergeant John Bushell, 84, said: 'It burst into flames from wing tip to wing tip.
'I was thrown out after hitting my head on a gun. I came to in free-fall and managed to pull the chute.'
Both he and pilot Mr Wilson, along with bomber aimer Flying Officer Laurie Underwood, now 86, and pilot Flying Officer George Griffiths survived and became prisoners of war.
The bodies of second pilot Sergeant Kenneth Stanbridge and wireless operator Pilot Officer Eric Church were buried after the war.
But Sergeant Bremner and gunner Warrant Officer Charles Dupueis were never found.
Mr Wilson, 85, a former management consultant, began his search for answers in 2005 when he travelled to Berlin with his daughter, Janet Hughes, 46, who speaks fluent German.
They met local historians and witnesses and the next year, he returned and found the wreckage with the help of a team of volunteers using metal detectors.
Final confirmation that the remains belonged to Sergeant Bremner, of Elswich, Northumberland, arrived after a DNA sample was taken from his sister Marjorie, 89, who will also attend his burial.
Mr Underwood, of Wetherby, West Yorkshire, is too ill to go and Mr Griffiths died in 1998.
A Royal British Legion spokesman said Mr Wilson's quest 'spoke of the searing and life-long impact of service in the armed services. People don't put away their war memories easily.'
Some 55,500 young men of Bomber Command died during the war.
Last night Mr Bushell, of Oakley, Bedfordshire, added: 'My abiding memory of John is singing our hearts out together at a piano bar in York. He was a war hero who gave his life for his country.'
Crammed together in their unwieldy aircraft and utterly dependent on one another, the bomber crews of the Second World War forged friendships that often only death could break.
Which is why Pilot Officer Reg Wilson never forgot the night more than 60 years ago when he lost two friends in the night skies over Germany.
As he entered his old age - the memories of his youth perhaps more powerful than ever - Mr Wilson began a quest to find their remains.
Yesterday he told how at last he had succeeded in finding one of those friends, flight engineer Sergeant John Bremner, and finally laying him to rest.
Sergeant Bremner will be buried with full honours at the Heerstrasse War Cemetery in Berlin next Thursday.
'It's only right that John is honoured,' said Mr Wilson, of Chigwell, Essex.
'Thousands of good men, like John, lost their lives. It must not be forgotten. It will be an emotional, but happy, day.'
Sergeant Bremner died aged 21 on the night of January 20, 1944, when 800 aircraft raided the German capital.
Among the 27 aircraft lost was Halifax LW337 from 102 Squadron based at RAF Pocklington near York.
The aircraft - nicknamed Old Flo by her eight-man crew - was heading for home when she was hit by anti-aircraft fire.
Another survivor from Old Flo, rear-gunner Sergeant John Bushell, 84, said: 'It burst into flames from wing tip to wing tip.
'I was thrown out after hitting my head on a gun. I came to in free-fall and managed to pull the chute.'
Both he and pilot Mr Wilson, along with bomber aimer Flying Officer Laurie Underwood, now 86, and pilot Flying Officer George Griffiths survived and became prisoners of war.
The bodies of second pilot Sergeant Kenneth Stanbridge and wireless operator Pilot Officer Eric Church were buried after the war.
But Sergeant Bremner and gunner Warrant Officer Charles Dupueis were never found.
Mr Wilson, 85, a former management consultant, began his search for answers in 2005 when he travelled to Berlin with his daughter, Janet Hughes, 46, who speaks fluent German.
They met local historians and witnesses and the next year, he returned and found the wreckage with the help of a team of volunteers using metal detectors.
Final confirmation that the remains belonged to Sergeant Bremner, of Elswich, Northumberland, arrived after a DNA sample was taken from his sister Marjorie, 89, who will also attend his burial.
Mr Underwood, of Wetherby, West Yorkshire, is too ill to go and Mr Griffiths died in 1998.
A Royal British Legion spokesman said Mr Wilson's quest 'spoke of the searing and life-long impact of service in the armed services. People don't put away their war memories easily.'
Some 55,500 young men of Bomber Command died during the war.
Last night Mr Bushell, of Oakley, Bedfordshire, added: 'My abiding memory of John is singing our hearts out together at a piano bar in York. He was a war hero who gave his life for his country.'
I'm glad that you posted this as well in the Military Aircrew forum GK for I can guarantee it will get more response there than here. The preoccupations of this forum do not seem to extend to those who made the history so much as to the artifacts with which they did so! A trifle harsh? Perhaps, but the Bomber Command Memorial sticky at the top of this forum has scarcely entrapped a bluebottle let alone any indigenous interest and one can only hope for an early return to the Military Forum from whence it came.
Having got that bitter rant out of the way, this story is both tragic and yet heart warming. I would particularly point out that locating the Halifax wreckage, and hence the remains of John Bremner, was thanks to the dedicated professional and respectful efforts of hobbyists who use their considerable skills and knowledge to answer the innumerable unanswered questions that still linger from the war. Hopefully they have helped lay this elderly gentleman's preoccupations to rest at last. They do stirling work and are very much behind the proposed National Bomber Command Memorial and Heritage Centre. Whereas the post war governments have all reneged on proper recognition of these brave men that the nation owes so much to, these civilians work for it. I commend them.
Having got that bitter rant out of the way, this story is both tragic and yet heart warming. I would particularly point out that locating the Halifax wreckage, and hence the remains of John Bremner, was thanks to the dedicated professional and respectful efforts of hobbyists who use their considerable skills and knowledge to answer the innumerable unanswered questions that still linger from the war. Hopefully they have helped lay this elderly gentleman's preoccupations to rest at last. They do stirling work and are very much behind the proposed National Bomber Command Memorial and Heritage Centre. Whereas the post war governments have all reneged on proper recognition of these brave men that the nation owes so much to, these civilians work for it. I commend them.
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I had my reply to the Bomber Command memorial campaign from No 10 Downing Street last week. Basically, they said that the governement are not in the business of erecting memorials and if we really want one, we'll have to pay for it ourselves. My reply was to say that, in my humble opinion, hundreds of thousands of young men have already paid for it.
Meanwhile, the spivs are negotiating their next bonus payouts and the politicians are making their pensions ever more fireproof. Nothing new about that, it was always so.
Meanwhile, the spivs are negotiating their next bonus payouts and the politicians are making their pensions ever more fireproof. Nothing new about that, it was always so.
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A very poignant tale............
Blacksheep - the response of the current govt surprises me not one bit. Remember the disgustingly politically-correct society we now live in.........Of all the allied ww2 combatants, the allied bomber crews were some of the bravest - they had to be since (being some of the sharpest intellectually) they knew that the statistics told them that being shot down and ether killed or made POW was an inevitability until the latter stages of the war. But then those of us who have in interest in this are well versed with what these young lads were up against. God bless every last one of them.
Blacksheep - the response of the current govt surprises me not one bit. Remember the disgustingly politically-correct society we now live in.........Of all the allied ww2 combatants, the allied bomber crews were some of the bravest - they had to be since (being some of the sharpest intellectually) they knew that the statistics told them that being shot down and ether killed or made POW was an inevitability until the latter stages of the war. But then those of us who have in interest in this are well versed with what these young lads were up against. God bless every last one of them.
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Strange, is it not , that some bonds of friendship are not broken by death? This moving tale also shows the difference between the people who fought and the "leaders" on whose behalf they fought.
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Strange, is it not , that some bonds of friendship are not broken by death? This moving tale also shows the difference between the people who fought and the "leaders" on whose behalf they fought.
"Those heroes that shed their blood
and lost their lives;
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies
and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
here in this country of ours.
You, the mothers,
who sent their sons from far away countries,
wipe away your tears;
your sons are now lying in our bosom
and are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land they have
become our sons as well."
