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For more than eight decades, the families of four airmen, believed to have perished in a plane crash during World War II, have only heard tales of their mission and valor.
The Royal Australian Air Force Baltimore bomber was shot down, the wreckage has now been found off a tiny island in Greece.
Within No. 454 Squadron, three individuals were listed as “missing” but assumed dead: Australian gunner Pilot Officer Colin William Walker, New Zealand Warrant Officer and air gunner John Gartside, and British navigator Flight Lieutenant Leslie Norman Row.
Years later, word from Horsley – then a prisoner of war – managed to reach his wife.
“[There was a] Red Cross telegram from my Dad saying ‘halt all correspondence because I’m on the way home’,” Guy said.
After learning of the remarkable story, an Athens-based exploration team got to work.
However, even with sonar technology, it took seven years to find the wreck.
The Baltimore will now remain where it is.
“It’s a significant healing process to know they’ve found peace and we can close the final chapter of this story,” RAAF Chief Air Marshall Stephen Chappell stated.
“I’m very proud of them and I’m very proud of my father,” Guy Horsley said.
There are still 3143 Australian aviators with no known grave.
