'It's pretty spectacular': B.C. man honoured 80 years after uncle's plane shot down in Belgium

For a civilian, it was an extremely rare occurrence. Jay Hammond has never flown a plane, but on Friday he received a pair of pilot wings at a ceremony in North Saanich.

Lt. Col. Matt Dukowski of 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron described presenting the wings to Hammond as "an honour."

The reason Dukowski was honoured to present a the military decoration – which is normally given to pilots when they become qualified to fly – has to do with Hammond's uncle Wilbur Bentz, who was a pilot during the Second World War.

On May 13, 1944, Bentz's Halifax Bomber was shot down over Belgium by the German Luftwaffe, killing all on board.

Hammond even knows the approximate time the plane went down.

"Three to four o'clock on May 13th 1944,” he said. "My mother used to keep a picture of Wilbur on her night stand."

It was a loss the family never got over.

In 1984, Hammond’s mother died. That’s when he began reading letters that Bentz had sent to family and friends during the war.

"I got really interested to find out what actually happened,” said Hammond.

Through his digging, he found the names of the entire flight crew and discovered that the bomber had been downed in a marshy bog in Belgium.

In 1997, after years of research, Hammond and his sister Maureen Thom travelled to that bog with a number of volunteers. The team began digging with an excavator, and soon the machine hit metal.

"We knew we had found something,” said Hammond.

It turned out to be the Halifax Bomber. Inside, human remains were found, including those of Bentz, along with everything else that was onboard when the bomber went down.

"We found a watch that showed the time of impact,” said Hammond.

Over time, the plane and its contents were removed and the aluminum was melted down in ingots. Those ingots are now used in the production of every pilot's wings since 2021. That has become a huge honour for Bentz’s relatives.

"Every member of the Royal Canadian Air Force who has been awarded these wings remembers my uncle,” said Hammond.

In a final twist in this story, through his research, Hammond was able to find the man – Martin Drewes – who shot down Bentz’s bomber that May morning in 1944.

When the family laid Bentz’s remains to rest, Drewes appeared at the funeral.

"I couldn't find that anger because I realized he was doing his job and it could have just as easily been Wilbur that shot down the Messerschmitt,” said Thom.

Drewes has since died, but before that happened, both Hammond and Thom became close with the man.

The family is now at peace with Bentz's death, knowing his legacy will live on for years to come through the pilot wings.

“It's pretty spectacular,” said Hammond.