The crew of a Navy Ventura PV-1 bomber from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station that crashed on Northern Vancouver Island on Dec. 26, 1943 is about to be honored.

Robert Hemphill of the 101 Squadron AFAC recently wrote, “Our squadron feels honor bound to pay tribute to, and to recognize these brave American airmen who died on our shores in a common cause against a common enemy.” The 101 Squadron previously erected a memorial to a British aircrew that died in similar circumstances on the North Island.

Coming from NAS Whidbey Island to attend the Sept. 15 dedication in British Columbia is Lt. Cmdr. Rob Huntington, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 10 Operations Officer. A P-3 Orion from the VP-1 Screaming Eagles will fly over the ceremony.

“I am extremely honored to represent not only the officers and sailors of Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 10, but all members of our armed forces who have bravely sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom,” Huntington said. “On Sept. 15, we will pay our respects to the six souls who took off from NAS Whidbey Island on a routine patrol in their PV-1 Ventura and subsequently crashed on Dec. 26, 1943 on Lawn Point, British Columbia. May God rest their souls.”

The twin-engine Ventura had taken off at 11:30 a.m. from Ault Field and the air station’s only contact after take-off occurred at 12:10 p.m. The plane traveled about 300 miles when it approached the end of Vancouver Island.

An immediate search was unsuccessful, but in June 1944, almost six months after the crash, a Canadian military plane on a routine patrol spotted the wreckage. Its identification numbers showed it was the missing American plane from Ault Field.

Because of the treacherous reefs around Lawn Point, investigators took a boat to get as close as they could and then used a dinghy to go ashore. They were surprised to find a well-worn path leading from the beach to the crash site, indicating at least one person out of the six had survived the crash. They found a bonfire site near the wreckage and a small pile of fish bones. Any survivor would have had to walk about 60 miles to get help, a difficult if not impossible feat for someone injured in a plane crash. But no trace was ever found of a survivor.