The last funeral for WW2 military casualties,at the Gander Cemetery, took place on the afternoon of 17 August 1948, when the crew of RCAF Hudson 719 were laid to rest. This was three years after the end of the war and almost five years after the aircraft crash which took the lives of its five crew members.
 
    On the night of 17 Dec 1943, three Hudson patrol bombers of #11 Squadron, based at Torbay were authorized to fly an astro navigation exercise which would take them across the south coast of the island to Stephenville, There they would turn and fly north east to Gander and then return to Torbay on a southeast course. The round trip would be about 700 miles and take approximately five hours. High cloud were forecast for the island with tops at 6,000 feet and the aircraft were instructed not to descend below 6,500 feet.
 
    Hudson 719 with a crew of five under command of P/O Pawson left Torbay shortly after 8.30 PM local time and thirty minutes later made its first position report at position 4746N 5351W. At 10.10PM it sent another report giving its position at 4805N 5610W which placed it north west of the islands of St Piere and Miquilon.

    Fifteen minutes later at 10.25PM the radio radio operator of Hudson 712 which was flying some distance ahead and close to Stephenville copied a radio message from 719 indicating they were experiencing engine problems and were going to land at Stephenville. The message was repeated twice..

    A few minutes after receiving the message, the pilot of 712, which had been flying at 6,500 feet, 500 feet above the clouds, started to let down to check his position. Rapid icing was encountered and after descending to 500 feet without breaking through he climbed above the clouds and set course for Gander. He later reported that it would have been impossible for a Hudson to maintain height on one engine under such conditions.

    Repeated attempts by ground stations to establish contact with Hudson 719 were unsuccessful and nothing further was heard from the aircraft.. Finally, authorities were forced to accept the fact it must be down somewhere and plans were put in place for a search which commenced at first light.

    On the morning of the 18^th as the search was being organized a telegram was received from the Father Green, the Parish Pirest at Cape St George. He reported that an aircraft had been seen flying low from Lower Cove towards Ship Cove on the south shore of the Port-au-port Peninsula and sparks appeared to be coming from one engine. Based on this the Bay St George area was added to the search area.

    Maximum effort was put into the search to locate the missing Hudson and its crew by aircraft of the RCAF, RAF and USAAC. The weather in late December and early January was poor and there were days when flying was impossible but 240 hours were logged by over forty aircraft during the search which lasted until mid January. By then officials were reluctantly forced to admit there was no hope of finding any survivors and on 17 Jan 1944 the search was called off.

    And there the matter stood until the summer of 1948 when aircraft wreckage was sighted by a civilian aircraft near Lloyds Lake about 50 miles east of Stephenville. In late July the pilot of VOABM a Norseman aircraft of Nfld Airways landed at the lake and walked the one and a half miles to the crash site. He identified the aircraft as being RCAF or RAF and returned with enough information for the authorities to identify it as Hudson 791.

    A party of airmen from RCAF Station Greenwood in Nova Scotia flew into Stephenville and operated from the USAF facilities there while engaged in the recovery operation. The USAF provided considerable support to the party who landed at Lloyds Lake and made their way to the crash site with great difficulty. They concluded the aircraft had struck the ground vertically and the crew members died instantaneously when the aircraft exploded and burned.. The remains and a few personal items of the five crew members were recovered but they were not able to make any individual identification.

    The remains were placed in a single coffin and transported to Gander where the funeral was held at 6.00 PM on the evening of 18 August 1948. A funeral party from RCAF Station Greenwood consisting of six officers and ten airmen paid final military tribute as the five victims were laid to rest in a collective grave. A photographer from the USAF took photographs which were sent to Air Force Headquarters and distributed to the relatives.

    Details of the crew as recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission are as follows:

 BENNETT, Flt Sgt. Clifford William R/158267. R.C.A.F. 18^th December, 1943. Age 27. Son of William and Nellie Bennett, of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: husband of Edna W. Bennett of Saskatoon. Plot 4. Row 5. Grave 1A

MANNETT, Flying Offr. Clarence Wilfred, J36707. R.C.A.F. 18^th December, 1943. Age 23. Son of Jospeh and Jeannie F. Mannett, of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Plot 4. Row 5. Grave 1A

MORTON. Flying Offr. Stuart Wilfred, J36684. R.C.A.F. 18^th December 1943. Son of Charles Emery Morton and Ida Morton, of Ailsa Craig, Ontario: husband of Ester Morton, of Brampton, Ontario. Plot 4. Row 5. Grave 1A.

PAWSON, Flying Offr, Douglas Hugh, J27026. R.C.A.F.. 18^th December, 1943. Age 24. Son of Earl Harvey Pawon and Lillian M. Pawson, of Sudbury, Ontario. Plot 4. Row 5. Grave 1A.

WEIR, Flying Offr, Glen Edgar, J26659. R.C.A.F. 18^th December 1943. Age 22. Son of William Levern Weir and Agnes Augusta Weir, of Victoria, British Columbia. Plot 4. Row 5. Grave 1A.