Filepic of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF). Pix: FlickrKUALA LUMPUR: After 67 years, the remains of eight members of the Royal Air Force (RAF) will finally be laid to rest here. 

The remains will be buried tomorrow at the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Cheras here . 

The eight were crew members of the B-24 Liberator aircraft that crashed in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan towards the end of World War Two. 

Britain's High Commissioner to Malaysa Simon Featherstone said it had been 67 years since the tragedy and three-and-a-half years since their remains were discovered, and now the servicemen, who had tragically lost their lives for their country, could finally be laid to rest. 

“I’m glad that their family members will be able to pay their last respects and that they will be accorded the military honors that they deserve,” he told reporters here today. 

Meanwhile, Margaret Clark Coates, niece of Flight Sergeant Jack Blakey, who died in the crash, said, Jack, who was born and educated in Boston, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, was volunteering for duties with the RAF in 1942. 

On Aug 23, 1945, eight days after the Japanese surrender, Jack and his crewmembers were tasked to transport badly needed supplies to liberated prisoners of war (POWs) in Central Malaya. 

"The mission was successfully completed but the aircraft did not make the journey to the squadron's base in the Coccos Islands,” she said in recollecting the incident in an interview held at the Grand Millennium Hotel, here today. 

“The wreckage of the aircraft together with the remains of the crew was not discovered until the 1990s," she said. 

She said in August 2009, an expedition comprising of a team from the Malaysian Armed Forces Museum at Port Dickson and members of the Malaysia Historical Group undertook a detailed investigation of the site of the crash. 

“They recovered what they thought to be human remains and transported these to Kuala Lumpur where it was confirmed that they were indeed the remains of the crew,” she said. 

“I feel emotional and I feel lucky because I’m able to give my last respects to Jack who left us such a long time ago,” she added. 

Diane Fletcher, 58, niece of Flight Lieutenant John Selwyn Watts said John was 24 years old when he died in the plane crash. 

“He died five weeks after getting married and he did not have any children, and his wife waited for him almost ten years before getting into a second marriage,” she said. 

“John was my uncle, and my mom always talked about him and tomorrow will be the Remembrance Day to all of my family members. I hope his soul will rest in peace,” she said hardly able to hold back tears. 



- Bernama