KRAKOW, Poland — Relatives of the Canadian and British crew of a Second World War bomber shot down in Poland touched the single coffin containing their remains Thursday during an emotional burial ceremony with full military honours.

"This is a closure," said Cheryl Blynn, 52, of Paradise, N.S., after the ceremony in Krakow, Poland. Her uncle piloted the plane on its ill-fated final flight.

"We now know where they are."

The Royal Air Force Halifax bomber was shot down in 1944 by the Nazis while on a mission to drop weapons and other supplies to Polish resistance fighters. The wreckage was recovered only last year.

Relatives of the airmen attended a mass at the military church in the historic city of Krakow, near the crash site, before the burial in the military section of the city's Rakowicki cemetery.

"It was just a chance of a lifetime and a privilege to say goodbye to him this way," said Eva Barriskill, 71, of Oliver, B.C., the younger sister of Canadian crewman Flight Sgt. Charles Burton Wylie. "I remember him well."

Two British and two Canadian pallbearers carried the single small wooden coffin for burial containing the remains of all the crewmen, as a Polish air force guard of honour stood at attention and a military band played funeral music and the three national anthems.

British and Canadian air force chaplains said prayers over the coffin before it was lowered into the ground while more than a dozen relatives of the crewmen looked on. The relatives touched the coffin and then lay flowers.

More wreaths were laid by Canadian Ambassador David Preston, the British Embassy and from Polish authorities.

A Polish scout troop released four white doves into the air at the end of the emotional ceremony.

The crew, all members of the RAF's 148 Squadron, included five Canadians: Flight Lt. Arnold Raymond Blynn, of Plympton, Nova Scotia, the 26-year-old pilot of the bomber; Flying Officer Harold Leonard Brown, 20, of Huron County, Ont.; Pilot Officer George Alfred Chapman, 24, of Toronto; Flight Sgt. Arthur George William Liddell, 31, of Montreal and Wylie, 20, of Hazenmore, Sask.

The two Britons were Sgt. Kenneth James Ashmore, 32; and Sgt. Frederick George Wenham, 21.

"It means a lot to me to be able to honour my uncle Bill's service in the war," said Julie Liddell, 58, from Vancouver.

The Halifax JP-276A took off on its final flight from the Italian city of Brindisi around 8 p.m. on Aug. 4, 1944, to drop weapons, ammunition and medical supplies for resistance fighters.

Over a span of two months, the resistance fighters took control of Warsaw, the capital, but were eventually defeated by the Germans amid tremendous destruction and loss of life.

The plane was shot down by Poland's Nazis occupiers and crashed near the town of Dabrowa Tarnowska, in southern Poland.

Residents at the time found some remains and buried them in a local cemetery, then later had them moved to the Rakowicki cemetery in Krakow - a burial site for some of Poland's most respected figures, including the parents of Pope John Paul II.

The aircraft stayed buried deep in the fields for 60 years, until the residents disclosed its existence to the Warsaw Uprising museum.

In November 2006, the museum's historians recovered the badly damaged wreckage of the Halifax, more remains, documents, maps, two revolvers and personal belongings including a pocket knife and an airman's gilded badge.

The historians also found containers with supplies that the crew did not have time to drop.

The museum opened an exhibition on the find on Aug. 4, the 63rd anniversary of the plane being shot down.

DNA from the relatives was used to identify the remains and the Canadian and British veterans' organizations arranged for the burial.

With files from The Canadian Press