Alexandra resident Alison Hogue attended a memorial service with her family for her uncle and other servicemen killed in the crash.
She is the niece of Invercargill-born flight sergeant Alexander Holms, who died aged 34, after his Stirling Bomber EE872 crashed in Germany during an air raid on September 6, 1943.
The memorial service took place in September in the German city of Ludwigshafen am Rhein, south of Frankfurt, and included representatives from German and the United Kingdom air forces and the New Zealand defence attache, as well as families of other servicemen killed.
The crash site had been discovered following research by a local history group lead by German crash site researcher Erik Wieman.
Six service men, including three New Zealanders, were killed and the sole survivor was captured as a prisoner of war.
Mrs Hogue said the memorial took place on a lovely day and it was hard to reconcile the crash.
"It was so sunny and peaceful while we were there but it would have been a totally different evening for the crew.
"We are lucky we don’t know first-hand what war is like."
Mrs Hogue said her uncle’s death was not discussed in the family.
"I knew he’d died in the war but ... it was never talked about," Mrs Hogue said.
"If it hadn’t have been for them putting it in the newspaper — we never would have got there.
"I felt very privileged to be there."
Several of her family were able to travel to Germany and share in the memorial.
"We’ll have that forever," Mrs Hogue said.
Her son, who read a statement on behalf of the family, was the same age as Flt Sgt Holms was when he died.
She said the ceremony recognised how much had changed since 1943.
Germany and New Zealand are allies now and "it’s a totally different world".
The work and research done on the memorial was unbelievable, she said.
"The RAF guy, he was very apologetic there was no fly over."
Mrs Hogue’s husband, Jeremy Hogue, said the experience conveyed the scale of the war.
"[It] brought it home how terrible it must have been — losing family."
