British crew shot down in WWII buried in Italy

The crew of a Royal Air Force Boston bomber that went missing in the final days of World War II has finally been buried in a war cemetery in Italy, 68 years after their deaths.

The crew took off from Forli in northern Italy, and were thought to have been shot down, BBC reported Thursday.

The location of the remains of the three Britons and an Australian was unknown till an Italian team of amateur archaeologists discovered them near Ferrara city in 2011.

Several dozens of people attended the burial ceremony at Padua War Cemetery, including relatives of the men and representatives of the RAF and the Royal Australian Air Force.

Sergeant David Raikes, the plane's pilot, was 20 years old when he led the ill-fated mission to attack a bridge on the Po river.

Navigator Flight Sergeant David Millard Perkins and wireless operator and air gunner Flight Sergeant Alexander Thomas Bostock were also 20.

Air gunner Warrant Officer John Penboss Hunt, from New South Wales, Australia, was 21.