He survived the Second World War, but this Nova Scotia airman never made it home

Stanley and Loretta Hilchey were on their way home from church on Mother's Day 1945 when they noticed someone on the veranda of their west-end Halifax home.

It was May 13, just six days after the city erupted into a two-day celebration that turned sour after Germany surrendered during the Second World War. More than 200 people were arrested after over 200 shops were looted and 500 businesses damaged.

Three people died during what came to be known as the Halifax VE-Day Riots.

The Hilcheys had three sons. Two had been serving as part of the war effort. With the war now over, they believed their sons were safe.

The person on the veranda was there to deliver a telegram. Stanley signed for it, opened the envelope, read it and had a stunned look on his face.

"Regret to advise that your son Flying Officer Ray Bertram Hilchey missing believed killed, result of flying operations overseas May ninth," the telegram read in part.

Stanley and Loretta Hilchey were devastated, says their grandson, Bruce Hilchey.

"Most people would have thought the danger was over," said the Dartmouth, N.S., resident.

Bruce's father, Glyn Hilchey, is Ray Hilchey's sole surviving brother.

Ray Hilchey, 22, served as a navigator with Royal Air Force Squadron 514. While the war was technically over, on May 9 his squadron was in the sky as part of the effort to repatriate tens of thousands of prisoners of war in Europe, says the book, Nothing Can Stop Us: The Definitive History of 514 Squadron RAF.

"The massed fleet of Bomber Command, now lacking things in Europe to bomb, was to be put to good use flying PoWs home to freedom," wrote co-authors Andrew Porrelli and Simon Hepworth.

"For 514 Squadron, unfortunately, there was to be a sting in the tale of events."

Under Operation Exodus, the squadron's first task on May 9 was for 10 aircraft to pick up liberated PoWs from Juvincourt, France.

Hilchey, the plane's six other crew members and 24 PoWs took to the air at 12:15 p.m. local time for RAF Waterbeach, which is around 100 kilometres north of London.