About Fallen Heroes On November 24, 1943, in the midst of World War II, a Royal Air Force Wellington airplane with six crew members, crashed into the Apennine Mountains in northern Italy, near the town of Bardi in the Province of Parma. Though recognized as a Canadian plane, the identities of the six crew members of Squadron 37 remained a mystery. Locals gave the men a full military funeral "as if they were one of their own" – something which was unheard of during the war. Sixty years later, in 2002, the Chiappa family of Bardi now living in Canada found the identity of the fallen Wellington crew, including Canadians Colin Wheatly and Hedley Fitch II. Languages: Italian, English Lasting Legacy Fallen Heroes looks at the impact of the crash on the small community in Italy and decades later, two Ottawa families, one Italian, one English, come together to remember the tragic event. Of all the airmen who died in WWII, one in four were Canadian. It was a high price to pay, something the people of Italy have never forgotten. And then we found out the crew was made up of Canadians. We immigrated to Canada in 1959. Perhaps the efforts of these six men had offered us passage and the possibility to immigrate to Canada and this is our recognition of these unfortunate souls who died on our mountain. Even today, children playfully battle each other inside the castle walls. Mankind has always been at war. But the stories you never hear are like this one, which captures the hearts of two nations. At a special commemorative service in Bardi, people young and old, Italians and Canadians, joined to remember Hedley Fitch, Colin Wheatly and their fallen companions. Respect and compassion rise above the echoes of war, in a world where these lessons must never be forgotten. In Ottawa the Fitch and Chiappa families meet for the first time in the office of Senator Consiglio Di Nino on Parliament Hill. Fallen Heroes Narrative Clementina Underwood: "I had them in my mind for a long, long time. Even now those six coffins in the middle of the church." Anna Chiappa: "There was a lot of respect for the airmen and it was unfortunate that the family never really knew about that. Paul Rossi: "It's an occasion which brings back many memories, and it reminds people who don't have those memories, that 60 years ago, the world was a very different place. Umbretta: "To bring back to life a story, which, for a long time, which we didn't really know what happened. It was a beautiful occasion to bring this to light." Student A: "To do something like this as an act of remembrance. I don't think they have enough of them." Rita: "I don't know. It seems to me an incredible thing, because I said to myself, these young men who lost their lives in our little hamlet. And we came here to the same place where they grew up. To live our lives, it affected me deeply."