‘They did not die in vain’: Summerville, N.S., remembers four Allied officers who died in plane crash 80 years ago
SUMMERVILLE, N.S. — Four airmen who lost their lives in a Second World War training accident were recognized on the weekend with a permanent monument in the small rural Nova Scotia community where they died.
On June 25, 80 years to the day of the crash, history buffs, politicians, community members, and distant relatives of the deceased gathered at Musgrove Road Cemetery in Summerville for the special service.
“They were friends. They were training for a common mission: to fight and defeat the tyranny in Europe from spreading to the rest of our free world. They knew the risk,” said Darrell Leighton, president of the Royal Canadian Legion’s Hants County Branch No. 009.
“War is dangerous; training for war is also dangerous and sometimes takes some casualties.”
The men — two from New Zealand, one from Australia and one from Ontario — were based at the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan aerodrome at Pennfield Ridge in New Brunswick.
“As tragic as this crash was, we hope the … investigation discovered the causes to be fixed to prevent the same type of accidents from happening again, to save many more future airmen’s lives from the same tragic fate,” Leighton said during the 2 p.m. service.
“They did not die in vain. We did not know them, but we know them now. We will honour them, we will remember them, they will not be forgotten.”
The granite monument, created and donated by Heritage Memorials Ltd., was unveiled at the cemetery, located about a kilometre from the crash site.
John Wilson, a local historian who served on the West Hants Historical Society’s Second World War plane crash memorial committee, said the ceremony was an appropriate way to remember the sacrifice they made.
“These people were in training to go overseas to fight in the Second World War; they just didn’t make it. They were not killed in action, or anything like that, but they were just as brave,” said Wilson.
Recognition
The West Hants Historical Society (WHHS) spearheaded the project, with help from the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 9, 106 Squadron Air Cadets, Summerville and District Volunteer Fire Department and various individuals.
Gary Nelson, the society’s vice-president, got involved after his niece, Susan Nelson, a teacher in New Zealand, started doing some research for a class project on the men who died in the Summerville plane crash.
“My niece knew of these two New Zealanders who had died here. So she got in touch with the historical society and they helped her do research,” he said in an interview before the service.
“She informed me about it and that’s when I came to the society with the idea of doing a memorial.”
With the men buried in three different cemeteries, Nelson said locating the permanent memorial near the crash site made sense.
Last summer, relatives of the air gunner that had been killed arrived at the Windsor museum seeking more information. With such interest in the old crash, planning for the memorial kicked into high gear.
Nelson said before dawn on June 25, 1943, five light Ventura Mk II bombers left the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan on a low-flying cross-country navigation exercise.
One of the planes — AJ186 — experienced engine trouble while flying over the Avon River. On board were the 21-year-old pilot P/O George Wellington Cowie, from Wellington, NZ; 29-year-old navigator P/O Clifford Avery Griffiths, from Auckland, NZ; 19-year-old air gunner P/O John Clarke Loucks, of Bracebridge, Ont.; and 24-year-old wireless air gunner Sgt. Arthur Cornelius Mulcahy, from Sydney, Australia.
“Both engines of the plane gave out. It was flying low. It lost altitude; hit a pine tree, did a somersault and all four servicemen on board were killed,” said Nelson.
Eye witnesses
Although it was 80 years ago, the memory of the plane crash is still vivid in the mind of lifelong Summerville resident Doris Dodge. She was just 10 years old at the time. She was standing outside at her grandmother’s well and recalls hearing a loud sound and looking up to see the aircraft.
“It came right in and hit a big pine tree back here and took the top off the tree and it flipped up in the air and then landed back here in the pasture,” said Dodge.
“After it crashed, all I could see was black smoke,” she said.
“So I came up to the top of the hill where we lived. I told my mother and she said, ‘you can’t go, that’s no place for a child.’ So I never got back to see it.”
She’s one of a handful of residents who witnessed the crash that are still alive and living in the area.
Hants County artist Terra Spencer performed Amazing Grace at today’s unveiling of a Second World War plane crash memorial that honours the lives of four men who died in 1943 in Summerville. Here’s a snippet from the service. pic.twitter.com/ln3Aalazvq
— Carole Morris-Underhill (@CMUnderhill) June 25, 2023
Wilfred Ogilvie was another resident who witnessed it. His recollections were written down and included in a commemorative program given to guests at the memorial unveiling ceremony. He was seven years old and playing in the yard with his brother. He said it was common for them to watch small planes from the Stanley Airport circling over Summerville, performing practice routines. What he witnessed that day, however, was different.
“Then we heard a large noise out over the river, which we couldn’t see from our house, but it was coming closer, when suddenly we heard this loud boom, then saw the black smoke up on Bog Road (now Musgrove Road).”
He travelled with his father and uncle back into the woods and saw the plane on fire.
The Royal Canadian Air Force retrieved the bomber and most of the debris within a week.
“After everything had been gathered up and taken away, people used to go back and see if they could find something for a souvenir. For years we had a buckle off a seat belt or parachute,” Ogilvie reported.
Dodge said one of her in-laws had collected molded metal from the crash, which she donated to the historical society.
She attended the ceremony on Sunday and commended the people who made it happen, noting it will now serve as a permanent memorial for men that should never be forgotten.
Moving tribute
For the Loucks family of Ontario, the service was particularly special.
“It was an honour to be here, and they’ve done a beautiful job — a really beautiful job,” said Audry Lubieniecki (nee Loucks), who didn’t have the chance to know her cousin who died in the crash.
She wishes she had.
“I was 13 and I remember my mother telling me he was an officer. So what she said was there was an officer in the family who had gone out on a trip and he’d been killed coming back. And of course, I just thought he’d been killed in action, like the boys in town … who hadn’t been coming home,” she recalled following the service.
“My mother was always so busy. We never really sat down and talked about things in the past.”
But now that people are unearthing more about him, and about the Loucks’ family tree, she’s hoping to connect with other relatives and take a drive to pay her respects to the young officer. His grave is located about a three-hour drive from where she lives in Hamilton.
Her son Jeff Lubieniecki is very interested in taking that trip as well.
“It’s brought our family together more as we’ve been researching more about our family’s roots,” he said.
“I didn’t know him at all — that was before my time — but it makes me want to find out more.”
He said they’re thankful for the community coming together to create such a meaningful memorial for the servicemen who died.
“I’m very taken back by how much the community here has embraced this and all the resources they’ve put into it — the time and effort,” said Lubieniecki.
“I just want to thank everybody who was involved. I’m impressed. I think this is great.”
The plane crash memorial is located at Musgrove Road Cemetery in Summerville.
Need to know
Second World War Summerville plane crash
What: A training exercise aboard a Ventura Mk II bomber that went tragically wrong during the Second World War. After leaving Pennfield Ridge, N.B., on a low-flying cross-country navigation exercise, the four-man crew experienced engine trouble in Nova Scotia, with the vessel losing altitude and crashing in Summerville.
Who died: P/O George Wellington Cowie, pilot, Wellington, New Zealand — 21 years old.
P/O Clifford Avery Griffiths, navigator, Auckland, New Zealand — 29 years old.
P/O John Clarke Loucks, air gunner, Bracebridge, Ontario — 19 years old.
Sgt. Arthur Cornelius Mulcahy, wireless air gunner, Sydney, Australia — 24 years old.
When: June 25, 1943, on the last day of school in the area.
Where: Summerville, Hants County, N.S.
Of note: The two New Zealanders were interred in Maplewood Cemetery, in Windsor and the Australian was buried in St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Cemetery, in Windsor. The Canadian was buried in his hometown of Bracebridge, Ont.
On June 25, 2023, a monument was unveiled at the Musgrove Road Cemetery, on Musgrave Road, in Summerville, recognizing their sacrifice.
Source: West Hants Historical Society
Carole Morris-Underhill is the lead editor of the Valley Journal-Advertiser. She can be reached by email at carole.morris-underhill@
