Poland demands answers from Canada on immigrant death

Poland demands answers from Canada on immigrant death

Agence France-Presse


Like from the movie "Terminal" The Terminal, Terminal, The : Catherine Zeta Jones, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg
But this time the Polish Man Mr. Robert Dziekanski was killed by Airport security in
VANCOUVER Canada।

He had valid permanent visa and valid passport. We has waited 20 years to see his mother in Canada. His dream was to open small business with his mother.
Robert Dziekanski was from the small beautiful town in south western Poland mountains Pieszyce

Watch

VANCOUVER, Canada--The death of a Polish emigre after police stunned him with a taser at an airport here has sparked a diplomatic incident, with Poland demanding full details of the subsequent investigation.

"I had been waiting for seven years for him. I had been saving for seven years."

I had been waiting for seven years for him. I had been saving for seven years."

She fell silent for a moment, her eyes falling on his picture in front of her at the news conference in Vancouver's Polish Hall.

"Now I lost my son. I loved him so much," she said.


The Polish government issued a diplomatic note asking "Canadian authorities to provide us promptly with full and transparent results of the investigation of this tragic accident," Maciej Krych, Poland's consul general in this western Canadian city, told AFP.

Robert Dziekanski, 40, died on October 14 after a brief struggle with security guards and police, who were called after he started throwing things and screaming in the airport's arrival zone.

A preliminary coroner's report Friday showed there were no drugs or alcohol in Dziekanski's body, said the lawyer for Zofia Cisowski, the dead man's mother.

Dziekanski, a construction worker, had flown from Frankfurt to live with his mother in Canada. He spoke only Polish, had never travelled before and was "scared" and "stressed" by the journey, said the lawyer, Walter Kosteckyj.

Dziekanski waited for his mother in the airport's luggage area, but she was not allowed to enter the secure zone and could not find anyone to tell her if her son had arrived, said Kosteckyj. After several hours, she left.

A few feet away from her, on the other side of the security zone wall, Dziekanski waited for 10 hours, said the lawyer.

"It's unbelievable you have a guy sitting in what is supposed to be a secure area for 10 hours ... without immigration or airport authorities at least asking the guy or finding out what the problem is," he said.

When Dziekanski finally emerged into the public arrivals area, there was no one to meet him and it had been 25 hours since he left home, said Kosteckyj.

"He was not a sophisticated traveller... He was a fellow simply lost in an English-speaking world unable to communicate."

Police statements on October 14 said "he was sweating profusely, behaving irrationally, throwing chairs, tipping his luggage cart over, pounding on glass windows ... and screaming in what sounded like an eastern European language."

Documents obtained by CTV news showed that within two minutes after police arrived, they used a stun gun on Dziekanski. Ambulance attendants arrived 12 minutes later and were not able to revive him.

"Our Polish community [is] in a state of shock," said Krych.

A public inquest will be carried out, Jeff Dolan, the province's assistant deputy chief coroner, told AFP.

The death has fueled controversy about taser stun guns, which have been linked to other deaths in the country, including one in the same week as Dziekanski's.


SW. Pamieci Dziekanski pochodzil z miejscowosci Pieszyce w Polsce.


Dzieje Pieszyc są równie skomplikowane jak historia Śląska. Na przestrzeni wieków osada wchodziła w skład różnych państw, zamieszkiwana była przez różne narody. Prawdopodobnie powstała w XIII wieku, tak jak większość pobliskich miejscowości w wyniku tak zwanej kolonizacji na prawie niemieckim. Przypuszczenia te potwierdzają najstarsze historyczne źródła mówiące o Pieszycach. Pierwsza pisana wzmianka o naszej miejscowości pochodzi z 1258 roku – dokładnie 13 lutego, biskup wrocławski Tomasz I, na prośbę księcia wrocławskiego Henryka III, patrona kościoła Św. Jerzego w Dzierżoniowie oraz Ottona z Willina, z kolei patrona kaplicy w Pieszycach, wydaje dokument rozdzielający obie świątynie.

Historyczna nazwa Pieszyc – w materiałach źródłowych Peterswald (tłumacz. Piotrowy las) wskazuje na kolonizacyjną genezę. Być może osada powstała w miejscu wykarczowania lasu. W pierwszej połowie XIV stulecia Pieszyce były już dużą wsią. Jak podają dokumenty posiadały między innymi murowany dwór, kościół, folwark oraz liczne młyny, nie wspominając o gospodarstwach chłopskich.
Na początku XVIII wieku dobra pieszyckie nabył w całości za cenę 141 tys. talarów Bernhard von Mohrenthal. Za jego rządów w Pieszycach nastąpił szybki rozwój tkactwa. Nic też dziwnego, że w XIX wiek Pieszyce wkraczają w erę przemysłową, jako silny ośrodek tkactwa. Lokalne statystyki mówią, że w 1828 r. wieś posiadała 560 przędzalników oraz 280 tkaczy. Pierwsze fabryki tekstylne pojawiły się w następnym stuleciu. To właśnie w Pieszycach rozpoczęło się powstanie tkaczy śląskich z 1844 r. rozsławiony przez Gerharda Hauptmanna. Patrząc na Pieszyce z tamtych lat trzeba zaznaczyć, że była to dość nietypowa wieś. Obok ponad stu gospodarstw chłopskich funkcjonowało czternaście fabryk włókienniczych.

Po zakończeniu II Wojny Światowej miasto, tak jak i cały Dolny Śląsk zostało przyłączone do państwa polskiego। 29 października 1945 roku wprowadzono polską nazwę naszego miasta – Piotrolesie. W lipcu 1947 roku Piotrolesie stało się już na stałe Pieszycami, które 22 lipca 1962 roku otrzymały prawa miejskie.

Pieszyce ist sehr malerisch am Fuße des Eulengebirges gelegen. Das Eulengebirge ist landschaftliches ein sehr schönes und abwechslungsreiches Wandergebiet. Vom touristischen Standpunkt gesehen gibt es hier eine große Anzahl von Wander- und Radwege. Eulengebirge ist auch das idealste Skigelände. Es gibt ausgebaute Ski- und Rodelbahnen sowie Skilifts - das sind natürlich nicht alle Gründe, warum man unsere Gemeinde besuchen sollte.
Wir laden herzlich ein.
Geschichte
Die Geschichte der Stadt Pieszyce ist genauso kompliziert wie die Geschichte von Schleßien und weißt gewisse Verwirrungen auf. Mehr
Heutiges Tag
Die Gemeinde Pieszyce liegt am Fuße des Eulengebirges, das erdgeschichtlich der älteste Teil der Sudeten ist. Mehr
Kultur
Obwohl es kein Gemeindekulturzentrum gibt, ist das kulturelle Leben der Stadt sehr reich und vielseitig. Mehr
Veranstaltunfen
Jedes Jahr finden in der Gemeinde Pieszyce viele Veranstaltungen von überregionalem Charakter statt. Mehr
Turystik
Die Gemeinde gehört zu den attraktivsten touristischen Gebieten des Kreises Dzierżoniów. Mehr

The Funeral

Mike from Calgary shares


Robert's public funeral would be in Kamloops on Saturday at 11 am. I looked up the funeral home to send flowers and their details are below.

Kamloops Funeral Home
kfhome@telus.net

Their address is
285 Fortune Drive
Kamloops BC V2B 2H7

The news article also said that there is a fund set up at a Kamloops bank to help Zofia take her sons ashes back to Poland.

Sheri from Kamloops informs us

The Kamloops Daily News states there is a fund set up at Valley First Credit Union at 100-180 Seymour Street, Kamloops, BC, account #74666. It is called the Zofia Victim's Fund.

Thank you Sheri.
The bank can be reached at Phone: 250-374-4924 if you need any further detail.

Posted by Justice for Robert D. at 3:25 PM 3 comments

Labels: funeral, Robert Dziekanski


Wednesday, November 14, 2007
A Call for Justice: A Letter to the MP

The people to contact are your MP, the minister for Transport Canada - Lawrence Cannon and the minister for Public Safety - Stockwell Day . Their addresses are as below.

The Honourable Lawrence Cannon
Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
Tower C - 330 Sparks St.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1A 0N5
Phone: 613-991-0700
Fax: 613-995-0327
email: mintc@tc.gc.ca

The Honourable Stockwell Day
Minister of Public Safety
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Phone: 613.995.1702
Fax: 613.995.1154
Email: day.s@parl.gc.ca

Please send an email to them today. Feel free to use the following email or adapt from it.



Dear Minister ____,
On October 14, Mr Robert Dziekanski, a first time visitor to Canada was killed at the airport. The cause of death is attributed to two taser shots fired at close proximity by RCMP officers present at the scene. From video footage of the event it is evident that Mr Dziekanski was no threat to either himself or to anyone else. On the other hand he seemed to be suffering a severe anxiety attack on account of his confinement at the airport for ten hours after passing through customs. In stead of offering medical attention or negotiating with Mr Dziekanski, the officers seemed to behave in a fashion that can only be called trigger-happy. Furthermore, these officers also attempted to cover up their incompetence by lying about the sequence of events leading up to Mr Dziekanski's death. The events have only been brought to light because of video footage of the event captured by a bystander.

I fear the incompetence of the RCMP officers stems from a systemic failure and request you to raise this matter in the parliament. Since this event also took place in an area secured by customs officers at a national airport I request an enquiry into the airport procedures in handling visitors to Canada.

The video footage of the event is publicly available. No conscientous Canadian can see that and not be appalled by the sequence of events. I trust you will share my concern and shame at having treated a fellow human in such a fashion. Canadians look to you to pursue this investigation to the fullest extent.

Yours very sincerely,

_________


In case you send in your mail to the MP's, please take a moment to register your vote in the sidebar. Let it not be said that Canadians condone this and do not speak as one on how they feel on this issue.

Alex Lech Bajan
CEO
RAQport Inc.
2004 North Monroe Street
Arlington Virginia 22207
Washington DC Area
USA
TEL: 703-528-0114
TEL2: 703-652-0993
FAX: 703-940-8300
sms: 703-485-6619
EMAIL: office@raqport.com
WEB SITE: http://raqport.com

Poland's top soldier can empathize with Canada over Afghanistan

Poland's top soldier can empathize with Canada over Afghanistan
Peter O'Neil, Europe Correspondent, CanWest News Service
WARSAW -- Gen. Franciszek Gagor, Poland's top soldier and perhaps NATO's after an upcoming vote to replace Canadian Ray Henault as chairman of the western alliance's military committee, can empathize with Canada's public relations challenge over Afghanistan.

"Well, it's a challenge for us also," Poland's chief of the general staff told CanWest News Service.


General Franciszek Gagor, Chief of Staff of Polish Army. August 15, 2007
Photograph by : REUTERS


Printer friendly
AAAAFont: Gagor, competing with generals from Spain and Italy to replace Henault in the Nov. 14 vote, would be the first officer from the old Soviet Union's Warsaw Pact alliance to become top soldier in the 26-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

He brings to the international table considerable peacekeeping experience in the Middle East and guarded optimism about the Afghanistan mission.

But Gagor cannot claim popular support in his own country for Poland's military role there. One poll this month by the Warsaw-based firm CBOS said 72 per cent of those surveyed were opposed to Poland's decision earlier this year to deploy 1,200 soldiers primarily in the dangerous southeast provinces of Ghazni and Patika. Poland also has elite forces working with Canadians in Kandahar.

Objections to the fighting are even stronger than in Canada, where public unease and election fever have caused the government to declare that Canada's current role in Kandahar, where there are more than 2,000 Canadian troops, won't continue past early 2009 without an endorsement from Parliament. Three of four Canadian parties, in a position to trigger an election after Tuesday's throne speech, currently oppose an extension.

Poland, despite its rich though often tragic military history facing brutal invasions by neighbours like Germany and Russia, is a "peaceful nation," according to TNS Global managing director Andrzej Olszewski, a Warsaw-based pollster.

"We have become good soldiers because we are usually defending ourselves. But people don't recognize war as something good and beneficial."

Poland's public mood is soured partly by Iraq, where the country has lost about 20 soldiers since 2003. One soldier has been killed so far in Afghanistan.

The public objections, however, don't appear likely to have an influence on Poland's role. Despite this country's own current election fever there is no organized peace movement, the issue doesn't get major media coverage and the conflict hasn't become a political football in Poland's Oct. 21 parliamentary elections.

One possible explanation is that Poland, with 38.5 million people in a country half the size of Alberta, has been anxious since breaking free of Moscow's dominance in 1989 to use Europe and the U.S. as buffers against Russia. There is therefore an elite consensus to go along with NATO and, like Canada, take on a challenging role in a high-risk region of Afghanistan.

"Everyone considers this issue so fundamental for our foreign policy that responsible political parties would not like to have it as part of the daily campaign," according to Andrej Szeptycki, director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs.

A second argument is that Poles, sensitive to the country's dominance by larger neighbours through most of its history, are reluctant to criticize an institution that reflects Polish independence.

"The uniform in the Polish mentality (became) something sacred ... after the trauma of the 19th century, when Poland vanished from the map of Europe," said Gagor, still wearing military fatigues after meeting troops earlier in the day.

Gagor said the West's military effort in Afghanistan has been generally successful this year, particularly because NATO forces disrupted a threatened spring Taliban offensive by launching pre-emptive attacks.

But he said western countries must do more to win Afghan hearts and minds by bringing better health care, education, and basic infrastructure to the country.

"I would say if the international community was more generous in supporting the people there, I think that would enhance significantly the progress and success of the operation."

Gagor beams with pride when asked about Poland's military history, captured in various works of art in military headquarters here that typically celebrates Poland's famous charging calvary in colourful, bloody battle scenes.

Poland's major military victories have been few in number but spectacular in scope. In Vienna in 1683 the army of Poland's King Jan III Sobieski helped Austria's Habsburg empire successfully put down Ottoman Turk invasion. And in 1920 near Warsaw, in the so-called Miracle on the Vistula, the Polish army outmanoeuvred and routed the Soviet Union's much larger Red Army.

Both are victories that Poles, now Europe's most devoutly Roman Catholic country, say potentially saved Christian Europe from domination by Muslim and then Communist domination.

Even in defeat the Polish army is romanticized. In 1939 the out-manned and out-gunned Poles held off the German blitzkrieg for more than a month, inflicting 60,000 casualties on the Nazi invaders and 11,500 on the Soviets, who joined the siege as a result of a Hitler-Stalin pact to divide and conquer Poland.

A senior British officer at the time sniffed to a Warsaw-based colleague, "Your Poles haven't put up much of a show, have they?" But historian Norman Davies has argued that the Poles ended up performing better than British and French ground troops did while being subsequently steamrolled when the blitzkrieg rolled westwards in 1940.

There is one lingering myth of Polish calvary, with sabres drawn, charging futilely against the blazing guns of Nazi tanks during the 1939 invasion.

Historians have concluded that it is fiction, begun by Nazi propaganda and perpetuated by the Communist regime after the war to press the theme that the Polish military was foolishly brave and incapable of defending their country.

"Nobody's that crazy, to ride a horse against a tank," Gagor said.

"The truth is that Poles used horses as means of communication. When they got to the place of their destination they dismounted and kept fighting. That's it."




©CanWest News Service 2007

Polish Man killed by Police in Canada white waiting for his mother.

Polish Man killed by Police in Canada white waiting for his mother.
No drugs, alcohol found in man who died after taser attack
THE CANADIAN PRESS
October 26, 2007 at 4:01 PM EDT
VANCOUVER — Test results show a man who died after a confrontation with police at Vancouver airport had no drugs or alcohol in his system.
The family's lawyer Walter Kosteckyj says he isn't supervised that toxicology tests on the 40-year-old man were negative as he'd been on a plane and then in a secure area of the airport for 10 hours before he died.
Robert Dziekanski was shot by a stun gun by police after police say he emerged in a violent rage from the customs area on Oct. 14. He died minutes later.
A preliminary autopsy report showed there were no signs of trauma, disease or any other obvious cause of death.

Mr. Kostecki said the family is still awaiting the end of the police investigation before deciding whether to pursue legal action against the RCMP.
A spokesman for the federal overseer of RCMP activities says two inquires have been made to the complaints commission about the police's actions that night, but no formal complaints have been filed.
No drugs, alcohol found in man who died after Vancouver airport incident
54 minutes ago

VANCOUVER - Test results show a man who died after a confrontation with police at Vancouver airport had no drugs or alcohol in his system, the family's lawyer said Friday.

Robert Dziekanski died after being shot with a stun gun by police on Oct. 14.

"I actually didn't expect there to be anything different (about the results)," said Walter Kosteckyj.

"He had been in transit for so long, he had been a secure area for nine, 10 hours and those are areas where you don't have access to food or drink."

A preliminary autopsy report earlier showed there were no signs of trauma, disease or any other obvious cause of death.

Kosteckyj said the family is still awaiting the end of the police investigation before deciding whether to pursue legal action against the RCMP.

"There is no question there is fault here and that there's legal ramifications that flow from that fault," said Kosteckyj. "The question is who all is involved?"

Vancouver Airport Authority did not return repeated calls Friday for confirmation of a reported log that shows the RCMP were called in at 1:21 a.m. to deal with a "suspect" at the airport.

Witnesses reported Dziekanski emerged into the international arrivals hall that morning in rage, throwing a computer and brandishing a stapler.

He'd been languishing in the customs and immigration hall for hours before that for reasons which still remain unclear.

Moments after they arrived on the scene, RCMP officers used a Taser gun to subdue the 40-year-old, who had come to Canada from Poland to move in with his mother in Kamloops, B.C.

A national news program reported the log also shows a four-minute lag between the time the man lost consciousness and when B.C. Ambulance crews were called in at 1:36 a.m., despite the usual presence of staff paramedics at the airport to deal with medical emergencies.

Two inquires have been made to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP about police actions that night, said a spokesman for the commission, though no formal complaints have been filed.

But the commission is already involved in the case because of a new pilot project with British Columbia that allows them to monitor investigations into police actions that cause serious death or injury.

Dziekanski's case has attracted little media attention in Poland, and his mother said a news conference on Thursday that she still had not spoken to all their family members there and in the United States about what happened.

Though referred to as Robert by his mother and police, a Polish journalist said Dziekanski's Polish first name was Dariusz and that he lived in the town of Gliwice, where he'd moved when he was a teenager.

He was coming to Canada to move in with his mother and work in construction.

Two memorials for Dziekanski are planned - one in Poland, and one in Kamloops.

The family has set up a trust fund at Valley First Credit Union to help offset legal costs.
Pole dies at Vancouver airport after being arrested

Created: Wednesday, October 17. 2007

A Polish citizen was killed Tuesday with an electric stun gun at Vancouver airport, Canada.

Witnesses say that the tragedy was caused by the victim’s insufficient knowledge of English.

Not being able to communicate with the airport workers, the man lost his temper and security treated him as they would a serious criminal.

The man died when police tried to pacify the man when he was being handcuffed.

Airport authorities firmly maintain that the man was acting aggressively.

The man threw chairs, knocked over his own luggage trolley and dropped a computer on the floor. According to the police, the 40-year old Robert D. was yelling at the top of his voice and trying to smash windows.

Taser use needs reexamination
Posted 8 hours ago
The concept of the taser - a non-lethal weapon that law enforcement can use to subdue those who might harm themselves or others - is ideally suited to our society.

In Canada, where we do not even apply the death penalty to those found guilty in a court of law, it would be very strange indeed if we supported use of deadly force by police on mere suspects.

We do not, and police do not want to use deadly force. Therefore, the advent of the taser looked like the greatest thing since sliced bread, a weapon that would subdue, but not permanently harm, unruly suspects.

Unfortunately, the reality is 17 persons have died in Canada since 2003 after being tasered, including Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, 40, who died at Vancouver airport on Oct. 14, to the great grief of his mother, who had worked two jobs to be able to afford to bring him to Canada.

The great majority of Canadians would share Sofia Cisowski's sorrow at the death of her son, as well as a profound regret that Canada served the family so badly.

Surely, we reason, a man who doesn't speak English and loses control of his emotions after a very long and tiring journey from the other side of the world deserves a better welcome than being killed.

But it is equally obvious that the officers who used the taser on Mr. Dziekanski, did so with no intention of causing him permanent harm.

That is the very purpose of the taser.

Now, it has been suggested that Mr. Dziekanski was tasered too many times - officers admit to twice, one witness insists it was four times.

Local police services in Cobourg and Port Hope have been using tasers for the past two years, with no ill-effects reported.

"They are highly effective," Port Hope's Deputy Police Chief Garry Hull told the Cobourg Daily Star.

Canadian Airmen Laid to Rest During Rededication Ceremony

Canadian Airmen Laid to Rest During Rededication Ceremony
OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Sept. 28, 2007) - Remains of Canadian Second World War heroes, Flight Lieutenant Arnold Raymond Blynn; Flying Officer Harold Leonard Brown; Pilot Officer George Alfred Chapman; Flight Sergeant Arthur George William Liddell; and Flight Sergeant Charles Burton Wylie, will be buried during a rededication ceremony on October 4 at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery in Poland.

Veterans Affairs Canada has arranged for family members of the five Canadian crew members to attend the burial and rededication ceremony. The family members will be joined by David Preston, Ambassador of Canada to Poland, as well as British and Polish civilian and military officials. The Department of National Defence will provide ceremonial support for the events, including three pallbearers, a bagpiper and a chaplain.

"I am pleased that we are able to ensure family members of these Canadian airmen are present at the rededication ceremony of their loved ones," said the Honourable Greg Thompson, Minister of Veterans Affairs. "We remember these men, and we remember what they were fighting for-peace, freedom and the rule of law. We will never forget what they sacrificed so that we could live freely today."

"The airmen of Halifax Bomber JP276 served valiantly, and they represented Canadian values and traditions in the finest sense," said the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. "Today, these same values and traditions are carried on by our service men and women."

On August 4, 1944, the seven airmen of the Halifax Bomber JP276, all assigned to 148 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, were killed when their aircraft was shot down over Poland. In addition to the five Canadian crew members, two members of the Royal Air Force, Sergeants Kenneth James Ashmore and Frederick George Wenham, were also killed in the crash. The recovered remains were initially buried in one grave at a local cemetery near the crash site. In 1948, the grave was exhumed and the remains transferred to Rakowicki Cemetery, a Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in Krakow, Poland.

In 2006, a team of Polish archaeologists and historians from the Warsaw Rising Museum began excavation of the site in an attempt to recover the plane's wreckage. Additional remains of the crew were recovered as a result. Using DNA from relatives of the crash victims, the Department of National Defence confirmed in August 2007 that the remains were those of the JP276 air crew. These remains will be interred in the crew's existing gravesite during a ceremony organized by the Canadian Department of National Defence in collaboration with the Royal Air Force.

For more information about the recovery and the rededication service, please visit the Veterans Affairs Canada Web site at www.vac-acc.gc.ca


BACKGROUNDER

Halifax Bomber JP276

At 8:00 p.m. on August 4, 1944, the crew of Halifax Bomber JP276 set out from an airbase in Brindisi, Italy. The plane was part of the Royal Air Force squadron tasked with delivering weapons, ammunition and other essentials to members of the Polish Home Army fighting enemy occupiers in the historic Warsaw Uprising. The target for the airdrop was a supply post near Warsaw. The plane was shot down sometime during the early morning hours of August 5 near Dabrowa Tarnowska, Poland. All seven members of the crew were killed.

Among the aircraft's crew were five Canadians and two Britons:

Flight Lieutenant Arnold Raymond Blynn, RCAF

Flying Officer Harold Leonard Brown, RCAF

Pilot Officer George Alfred Chapman, RCAF

Flight Sergeant Arthur George William Liddell, RCAF

Flight Sergeant Charles Burton Wylie, RCAF

Sergeant Kenneth James Ashmore, RAF

Sergeant Frederick George Wenham, RAF

The bodies of the men, all members of 148 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, were initially buried locally in a single grave. In 1948 the remains were exhumed and transferred to a Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery located within the Rakowicki Cemetery in Krakow, Poland.

Excavation of Halifax Bomber JP276

In 2006, a team of Polish archaeologists and historians from the Warsaw Rising Museum used ground-penetrating radar to locate the crashed Halifax Bomber JP276 on the outskirts of the city of Dabrowa Tarnowska, Poland. Excavation efforts began in October 2006. During the excavation human remains that had not been recovered in 1944 were located, recovered and analysed by an anthropologist from the National Archaeological Museum in Poland.

Identification of the Remains

The Department of National Defence confirmed in August 2007 the linkage between family members of the airmen and the remains. This was done using mitochondrial DNA testing through Molecular World Inc., a genetic testing laboratory located in Thunder Bay, Ontario. These remains will be interred in the crew's existing grave at a Rededication Ceremony to be held on October 4, 2007 in Krakow, Poland.

Family Members

Veterans Affairs Canada has arranged for the following family members of the five Canadian crew members to attend the burial and rededication ceremony:




Flight Lieutenant Arnold Raymond BlynnNephew, Mr. Wayne Douglas BlynnNiece, Ms. Cheryl Anne Blynn
Flying Officer Harold Leonard BrownFirst Cousin, Mr. Donald LaVerne KernickFirst Cousin, Mr. Claire Douglas Wright
Pilot Officer George Alfred ChapmanNephew, Mr. Jeffrey Chapman Jolly
Flight Sergeant Arthur George William LiddellNiece, Ms. Julie Liddell
Flight Sergeant Charles Burton WylieSister, Mrs. Eva Donalda BarriskillNephew, Mr. Charles Edward Wylie



For more information about the recovery and the rededication service, please visit the Veterans Affairs Canada Web site at www.vac-acc.gc.ca


BACKGROUNDER

Canadian Flight Crew of Halifax Bomber JP276


Flight Lieutenant Arnold Raymond Blynn (RCAF)

Blynn was born in Plympton, Nova Scotia, on April 24, 1918. He was the Pilot of Halifax Bomber JP276. Blynn died at the age of 26.

Blynn received the following recognitions: 1939-45 Star, Italy Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-45, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp. On April 22, 1947, he was posthumously awarded RCAF Operational Wings in recognition of gallant service in action against the enemy. On April 12, 1996, the Polish government posthumously awarded Blynn the Polish Home Cross Medal, the highest award for bravery in the struggle to liberate Poland.


Flying Officer Harold Leonard Brown (RCAF)

Brown was born in Huron County, Ontario, on December 3, 1923. He was the Wireless Operator of Halifax Bomber JP276. Brown died at the age of 20.

Brown received the following recognitions: 1939-45 Star, Italy Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-45, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp. On January 20, 1947, he was posthumously awarded RCAF Operational Wings in recognition of gallant service in action against the enemy. On April 12, 1996, the Polish government posthumously awarded Brown the Polish Home Cross Medal, the highest award for bravery in the struggle to liberate Poland.


Pilot Officer George Alfred Chapman (RCAF)

Chapman was born in Toronto, Ontario, on May 15, 1920. He was the Navigator of Halifax Bomber JP276. Chapman died at the age of 24.

Chapman received the following recognitions: 1939-45 Star, Italy Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-45, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp. On January 21, 1947, he was posthumously awarded RCAF Operational Wings in recognition of gallant service in action against the enemy. On April 12, 1996, the Polish government posthumously awarded Chapman the Polish Home Cross Medal, the highest award for bravery in the struggle to liberate Poland.


Flight Sergeant Arthur George William Liddell (RCAF)

Liddell was born in Montreal, Quebec on March 17, 1913. He was the Air Gunner of Halifax Bomber JP276. Liddell died at the age of 31.

He received the following recognitions: 1939-45 Star, Air Crew Europe Star, France and Germany Star, War Medal 1939-45 and Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp. In 1947, he was posthumously awarded RCAF Operational Wings in recognition of gallant service in action against the enemy. On April 12, 1996, the Polish government posthumously awarded Liddell the Polish Home Cross Medal, the highest award for bravery in the struggle to liberate Poland.


Flight Sergeant Charles Burton Wylie (RCAF)

Wylie was born in Hazenmore, Saskatchewan, on January 27, 1924. He was the Bomb Aimer of Halifax Bomber JP276. Wylie died at the age of 20.

Wylie received the following recognitions: 1939-45 Star, Italy Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-45, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp. On January 22, 1947, he was posthumously awarded RCAF Operational Wings in recognition of gallant service in action against the enemy. On April 12, 1996, the Polish government posthumously awarded Wylie the Polish Home Cross Medal, the highest award for bravery in the struggle to liberate Poland.

For more information about the recovery and the rededication service, please visit the Veterans Affairs Canada Web site at www.vac-acc.gc.ca



For more information, please contact

Veterans Affairs Canada
Janice Summerby
Media Relations Advisor
613-992-7468

or

Office of the Minister of Veterans Affairs
Richard Roik
Director of Communications
613-996-4649

or

Department of National Defence
Media Liaison Office
613-996-2353
613-996-2354