World War Two airman's relative found in Canada

The oldest crew member to lose their life was 32, with the youngest just 19 years old

A relative of an airman who was killed in a World War Two tragedy has been located in Canada.

The entire seven-man crew of the Halifax bomber died when it crashed on Cleeve Common near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

A memorial service is to be held this year to remember the men killed in the early hours of 26 August 1944.

Ed Stortz, a relative of one victim, said it would be "closure" for the family.

The fragment was identified through serial numbers and is believed to have been a section of the outer wing

All seven members of the MZ311 crew, many of whom were Canadian, were killed in the crash.

The bomber had been returning from a raid along the French coast and was believed to have been flying at a low altitude.

Reports from the time indicate the aircraft appeared to have turned away from its flight path home when it struck Cleeve Hill at approximately 200mph.

Neither the RAF accident investigation nor the subsequent court of inquiry were able to fully establish the cause of the crash, as all systems on board appeared to be normal.

In December 2022, members of The Royal Air Forces Association and the Cleeve Common Trust unveiled a memorial for the RAF crewmen, near the summit of Cleeve Hill.

The memorial, from the nearby Common Quarry, is due to be formally dedicated in August on the 80th anniversary of the crash.

Ed Stortz (right) had reached out to a local museum about his great uncle John Alexander Glenn

John Alexander Glenn, the rear gunner in the Halifax bomber, was 19 when he was killed.

His great-nephew Ed Stortz was contacted by a member of the Royal Air Force Association in Cheltenham in 2023 after reaching out to a local museum about some of his uncle's items that he had.

Talking to CBC, he said his father and daughter would be accompanying him to the UK for the service.

"My daughter is 18 years old and so when she goes over she's going to be the age of most of these people.

"She's really got to absorb that and look around and say like, that's what kids her age were doing at that time."

Pauline Fieldhouse continues to leave flowers at Sgt Emmanuel Harris's grave

Sgt Emmanuel Harris, 20, had been married to Pauline Fieldhouse's mother for just over a month when he was killed in the crash.

Pauline regularly visits the grave and leaves flowers as her mother, who passed away 17 years ago, would have done.

"I just think it's my duty", she told the BBC.