Appeal to find airman's relatives

The eight-strong Halifax bomber's crew were shot down over Berlin

It is hoped the relatives of an airman shot down over Berlin in World War II will finally be traced after the body of a fellow crewman was discovered.

Pilot Officer Eric Church, 24, from Berkshire, was in a crew of eight which did not return from a mission in 1944.

The Ministry of Defence is appealing again for his family to come forward after a crewman's remains were found.

Flt Lt John Bremner will be buried at the same cemetery in Berlin as Pilot Officer Church next month.

Flt Lt Bremner, the flight engineer, was shot down with his colleagues over the German capital shortly after their Halifax had released its bombs.

Four crew members bailed out and parachuted to safety seconds before the aircraft exploded and crashed into woodland.

It would be great to reunite members of the crew and their relatives for one last time Sue Raftree, MoD's Compassionate Centre

They were taken prisoner of war.

Two bodies, including Pilot Officer Church's, were recovered from the wreckage and buried in the Berlin War Cemetery.

Two crew members were never found, but remains recently discovered at the site of the crash have been identified as those of Flt Lt Bremner.

Some 64 years later, he will be buried with full military honours at the Berlin cemetery.

The service will be witnessed by some of the surviving crew and relatives of those who died, although none of Pilot Officer Church's family has been traced.

It is known he was born in July, 1919, in Windsor, Berkshire, and later lived in Union Street, Pocklington, now in East Yorkshire.

He married a woman called Gladys Elise Hudson and they had a son.

Sue Raftree, from the MoD's Compassionate Centre, said: "We would very much like anyone to contact us who may have any information which will help us trace the relatives of Pilot Officer Church.

"It would be great to reunite members of the crew and their relatives for one last time."