An Australian airman shot down in northern Italy during the last weeks of World War II has been laid to rest, almost 70 years after his death.
New South Wales Warrant Officer John Penboss Hunt was buried with full military honours alongside three British colleagues at Italy's Padua War Cemetery this week.
The crew were on a reconnaissance mission flying with the RAF's 18 Squadron over northern Italy in 1945 when their plane went missing, 10 days before the war's end.
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Italian amateur archaeologists unearthed the plane's wreckage near the town of Ferrara, north-east Italy, in 2011.
A watch identifying Warrant Officer Hunt was discovered and after 68 years being "missing in action," the crew were finally found.
The remains of Warrant Officer Hunt, who was 21 at the time he went missing and crewmates pilot Sergeant David Raikes, navigator Flight Sergeant David Perkins, and wireless operator and gunner Flight Sergeant Alexander Bostock were buried in one coffin.
Timothy Raikes, brother of Sergeant David Raikes, said the moment was bittersweet.
“All the world was rejoicing for VE day and they couldn't rejoice, they never knew,” he said.
“I feel lucky we do now know where he lies.
“It just makes it very special to be here today to have the headstones here with all the crew together.”
Warrant Officer Hunt's half-brother Wes Madge also attended the service and his son Ray sounded the Last Post.
