Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 89 continued ... In December of 1945 the RCAF Overseas Headquarters reported that the wreckage of an unidentified aircraft had been found in that mountainous area approximately twenty-five miles north of Turin in northwestern Italy. This was the district over which Halifax II BB412/C was detailed to fly on the night of 11 September and the early morning of 12 September 1944. It was determined that BB412/C struck the mountain top at 2345 hrs 11 September. The number of bodies, reported found with the aircraft, coincided with the number of personnel carried aboard the plane but no identification of the aircraft or personnel had yet been made. A Graves Registration Unit was dispatched to locate the graves and, if possible, to make positive identification. In October 1946, the Graves Registration Unit in Northern Italy confirmed the location of the missing plane and the missing personnel of Halifax II BB412/C. The remains of the thirteen were removed from the graves, where they were buried by the partisan group, and were re-interred in collective graves in the Milan War Cemetery, Italy. The dead of BB412/C were: Royal Canadian Air Force Pilot Officer John Ervin O’Brien of Regina SK. 21 years old. Flight Sergeant Albert Major Vanderhart of Toronto ON. 23 years old. Warrant Officer Class II Richard Alvinzie of Shelburne NS. 21 years old. Flight Sergeant James Howard Ireland of Macgregor MB. 20 years old. Flying Officer Joseph Miller Parkinson of Galt ON (born in Belfast Ireland). 26 years old. British Forces Captain (acting major) Charles F Whitaker was born in the Netherlands to British parents. 3rd Bn The Parachute Regiment, AAC. 23 Years old. Sergeant Ronald McKeen of Liverpool. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. 19 years old. Flight Sergeant Douglas Julius Ives of Hemsby, Norfolk. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. 21 years old. Royal New Zealand Air Force Flight Sergeant Bruce Woodward Ellison of Napier, Hawke's Bay. 26 years old. Italian Army Sergente Rudolfo Marchiori of Lendinara Rovigo. 20 years old. Sergente Guido Alessandro Voglino of Milan. 20 years old. Czechoslovakian Army Stabni Kapitan (staff captain) Rudolf Hrubec of Bernartice u Milevska. 29 years old. Desatnik (corporal) Bohuslav Nocar of Pilsen. 23 years old. continued ...
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