We are delighted to welcome the Veterans Memorial Restoration Society to the Your Choice To Donate Charity Vehicle Donation Program.
The Veterans Memorial Restoration Society coordinates the Airplane Creek project honouring eleven members of the Royal Air Force (RAF) who died in a training mission in BC on June 1, 1945.
B-24 Liberator bomber KK241 Flight Crew
- Stanley ALDRIDGE, Sergeant, 20
- Albert Eric BROADBENT, Sergeant, 19
- John Randall DALE, Sergeant, 32
- William Peter Watt DRUMMOND, Sergeant, 23 or 24
- Isaac GIBBONS, Sergeant, 19
- James Leonard Gordon HAMMOND, Sergeant, 20
- Arthur William David HILL, Flying Officer, 21
- David Robertson LANGLANDS, Sergeant, 33
- Gilbert Ewart Ellis LONG, Pilot Officer, 21
- Graham MURRAY, Sergeant, 20
- William Thomas SWATTON, Sergeant, 34
The Wreckage
The wreckage of the flight crew’s plane was found near the summit of Mt. Welch, 36 kilometers of course. Because of the difficult terrain the retrieval group could not carry the bodies down and instead returned five days later with Anglican Padre Flight Lieutenant Gilbert to bury the remains in a mass grave between the summits of Mount Welch and Mount Still. The crash is one of the ten largest air training incidents in Canada in WWII.
On June 11, 1983 Air Cadets from 861 Silverfox Squadron in Abbotsford, under the supervision of Commanding Officer Chris Weicht, constructed a memorial cairn on top of one of the liberators engines on an island in Airplane Creek near the base camp location of the 1945 recovery group.
In 2013, Cadets from 147 Airwolf Squadron in Chilliwack under the supervision of Lt. (Navy) Ron Shore CD, and Lt. George Noordegraff surveyed the condition of the memorial and discovered the 1983 memorial had fallen face down into Airplane Creek. A new memorial was proposed to remember the men and a decision was made to incorporate the engine from the Liberator in this new memorial.
AIRPLANE CREEK PROJECT
To learn more about Airplane Creek visit: www.AirplaneCreek.com.
If people are interested in donating towards the project they can call Robert Love, President of the Veterans Memorial Restoration Society at 1-888-888-4124 or donate at www.GoFundMe.com/AirplaneCreek. People donating more than $2,000 will have their name engraved on the monument, and people who donate more than $500 will receive a plaque with an engraved 50 caliber shell on it.
For more information on the project please contact Ron Shore at 604-857-2488 or e-mail Ron@RonShore.com.
To support this project through donating a vehicle to their charity click here. Or choose the ‘Donate Vehicle’ button at the top of the website and name the charity there.
How Charity Vehicle Donation Works
Vehicle donations provide valuable financial resources to support the running of local charities. With minor repairs, some vehicles may be worth more to a charity resold. If not, the vehicle can be recycled with parts and any metal sold for the benefit of the charity.
Each vehicle is evaluated to determine the best course of action.
Vehicles are towed at no cost to the donor. Once a vehicle is disposed of the proceeds are donated to the charity chosen by the donor. The charity issues the charitable donation receipt.
Do you have questions about donating a car, truck, van, or commercial vehicle to the Veterans Memorial Restoration Society?
Call Your Choice To Donate at:
- 604 845 5577 (Fraser Valley & Vancouver Area)
- 1-877-845-5577 (Kamloops, Kelowna, Lillooet, Merritt)