When: Saturday June 4, 2005 at 9:30 am
Where: Lake Cowichan A&W, then on to Mt Bolduc
Why: In mid-May, we received an email from the niece of one of the flyers who lost his life on Mt Bolduc in 1944. She and her father, the brother of the deceased, were elated to discover the final resting place of Sgt Maki.
The death of Sgt Maki had always been an unclosed chapter in their lives - In 1944, the family received a short telegram stating that the plane and all aboard were missing. Sometime later, another telegram was received, stating the body of Sgt Maki was found, and was buried on site as it was in an inaccessible area. They were sent photos of the site taken at the time of discovery.
Over the years, they had searched for more information on the Mt Bolduc crash, but came up empty handed.
Last September, Music-cachers made the arrangements for a group of cachers to travel to Mt Bolduc to visit GoldGuru's Mt Bolduc
cache. In mid-May, the Maki's stumbled across the
photos taken during that trip on
vigps.com and were delighted to see that the area is no longer inaccessible. They immediately began the arrangements to make a trip to Mt Bolduc.
On Saturday, June 4, we will make another trip to Mt. Bolduc. This time, we will have the honour of hosting a family member of one of the deceased. It will be a very special day for all of us.
We will meet at the the A&W in Lake Cowichan at 9:30 am on Saturday June 4th, and travel as a group to the crash site.
After visiting the site, we will have a pot luck picnic at the parking area before heading home.
The logging roads to Mt Bolduc do have some steep sections and drainage ditches that necessitate a 4x4 - We will arrange for carpooling so those without a 4x4 are able to attend. We can all drive our own vehicles to the Gordon Camp, then those with cars can jump into the larger rigs for the short drive up the mountain. If you have a 4x4 please let us know how many extra people you can squeeze in. If you will be coming by car, please let us know how many will require a drive up the hill.
The military have been contacted, but the extent of their involvement has not yet been confirmed.
Please indicate your intention to attend.
Links
Cowichan Leader, dated May 1, 1944
Airmen Honour Fallen Flyers at Remote Crash Site