Joseph ("Jo") Forman served overseas with the Royal Canadian Air Force as a navigator. Forman and his crew were shot down over France on July 25, 1944, during a mission. Forman survived and returned to Canada at the end of the war. The collection currently consists of an extended memoir of his time with the R.C.A.F.
Title
WWII
These collections contains all materials relating to Canadian from 1939 to 1945. Some individual collections may contain materials beyond this time frame. External links in collection descriptions are to casualty and burial information at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Donald McPherson Fraser, MC, was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, on October 3, 1912. His family had immigrated to Canada. He joined the Canadian army in 1939, with the Rocky Mountain Rangers. He spent the first part of the war in the Canadian army, until the British loss at Dunkirk . Donald then became one of the CanLoan officers lent to the British Army by Canada in an effort to refill the British officer ranks. Donald served with the Duke of Wellington regiment and subsequently with the Welsh Borderers; both units part of the 49th Polar Bear Division. He took part in the D-Day invasion and was wounded in the early days of that action, but returned to active service by July 1944, when he won the Military Cross. During his service with the British Army Donald received two battlefield promotions, being discharged with the rank of Major. He married and had four children after the war, spending the rest of his life in British Columbia. He settled in Nanaimo, where he lived until his passing in 1997. This collection consists of one photograph and a number of personal items.
Joseph Mack Freeman was born in March, 1909 in Innisfail, Alberta. Freeman joined the army in 1941 and returned to Canada in August, 1945. He died in Didsbury, Alberta in October, 1953. The collection consists of his scrapbook of photographs, postcards, and clippings from his time in the army.
Ed Gallagher was from Australia, born in 1916. He was a Wireless Airgunner who spent his war years (1941-1943) flying out of Mt. Batten (Plymouth, England) and Pembroke Dock (Wales) on Sunderlands. These two letters, part of a collection of 106 letters, describe his impressions of Canada as an Australian on his way to war in 1941 and in 1943 waiting to return to Australia. He was at the time writing to Molly Thomson, who he married in 1943 on his return to Australia.
Seymour McLeod Gerard was born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, on March 31, 1911, the second of five children of Theodore Isaac and Euphemia Estella (née McLeod) Gerard.
He served overseas with the Canadian military in WWII. His demobilization date is unknown.
Content notes:
The earliest letter in the collection was written to Seymour’s younger sister Helen McLeod Gerard, from a Cpl. J Pennington, while Pennington was in hospital in Nijmegen, Netherlands. The other letter was from Seymour to his Aunt “Myrt” (Myrtle Jean McLeod).
Both of the personal items, including an RCAF Pass to the Eastern Air Command Headquarters in Halifax, N.S., belonged to Seymour’s older brother Ira Goodwin, who worked at that time as a plumber in Halifax.
External links:
Seymour McLeod Gerard (Serv/Reg# unknown) survived the war; his service record is not open to public access at this time.
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated December/2022. Original collection name was “Gerard, Helen and Seymour.” Two photographs and two personal items have been added. Letter transcription been reviewed and any errors found corrected. The Collection Description has been revised and expanded.]
Ferruccio Joseph ("Fritz") Giacomelli was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in November 1920. He trained in Canada as an Air Observer before going to England in April 1942, flying with the 149 Squadron and later the 419 Squadron. Giacomelli returned to Canada at the end of the war, and died in 1981. The collection currently consists of four letters and several photographs.
Gordon Lloyd Gibson enlisted with the RCAF in 1942 at the age of twenty two. In 1944 he was flying with RAF 268 Squadron and flew thirty seven tactical missions between May and August 1944. Gibson returned to Canada at the end of the war. The collection currently consists of one letter which describes the D-Day invasion from the perspective of a pilot.
James Gibson was from Irving's Landing, British Columbia. He served as a Pilot Officer with the 425 Squadron RCAF. He died July 29, 1944 and is commemorated at the Runnymede Memorial in The United Kingdom. The collection consists of one airgraph home to his father, one group photograph, a birth certificate and several condolence messages regarding Gibson's death.
External links:
Pilot Officer James Gibson’s service record (Serv/Reg# J90957) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Gibson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Chief Ordnance Artificer Leslie (“Len”) Francis Gill, DSM, was born in Victoria, British Columbia, son of Mr. and Mrs. W.A. Gill. Prior to his enlistment he owned a locksmith business in Victoria.
After enlisting with the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1939, Gill served for several years aboard H.M.C.S. St Laurent. He was later stationed at H.M.C.S. Cornwallis in the fall of 1943, before joining H.M.C.S. Iroquois in early 1944. While home on leave in Victoria, Gill married Wanda Kathleen Spencer, on August 31, 1943, at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Victoria, B.C. Their daughter Evelyn was born November 11, 1944.
Gill received the Distinguished Service Medal on November 14, 1944, among those recognized "For courage and determination in H.M. Ships Albright, Ashanti, Bellona, Diadem, Mauritius, Onslow, Tartar and Ursa and H.M. Canadian Ships Assiniboine, Haida, Iroquois, Qu’appelle, Restigouche and Skeena, in a series of successful attacks on enemy escorted convoys off the coast of France."
Content notes:
Most of the collection’s letters were written to and from Leslie and Wanda Gill (née Spencer), between 1941 and 1945. Due to project budget constraints only thirty-three letters have transcriptions at this time; a list identifying transcribed letters by date can be accessed here in pdf format.
Included in the letter section is a handwritten document, dated 1943-01-13, titled “Review of Attack on Convoy ONS154”, written by “Directorate of Intelligence , Naval Staff, Naval Services HQ.” It describes the December 25-29 U-boat attacks on convoy ONS-154 in which fourteen ships were lost.
The poem is a conscription crisis themed verse,“70,000 Zombies.” Photographs are a mix of personal and military subjects, including several official RCN photos. Among the personal items, #27 is an unusual document in that it appears to be a guide to converting standard message phrasing into private messages between Gill and his wife.
External links:
C.O.A. Leslie Gill’s service record (Serv/Reg# V50176) is not open to public access at this time at Library and Archives Canada.
The announcment of Gill’s Distinguished Service Medal was published in the London Gazette of November 14, 1944, (#36794, p.5224).
Albert Norman Gould was born on July 19, 1923, the son of Albert and Dorothy Gould of Toronto, Ontario. He enlisted with the RCAF in early 1943. Following his training in Canada, Pilot Officer Gould was posted overseas in 1944. Gould was flying with the 101st Squadron when he and his crew were shot down over Speck, Germany on November 4, 1944. He and his crew are buried at the Rheinberg War Cemetery in Germany. The collection currently consists of thirty-seven letters.
External links:
Pilot Officer Albert Norman Gould’s service record (Serv/Reg# J95288) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Gould can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Flight Sergeant John "Jack" Balfour Gray Jr. was born in Trail, British Columbia, on January 21, 1921, the son of John Balfour Gray Sr. and Wilhelmina (née McAllister) Gray. Jack had two older siblings: sister Phyllis Wilma and brother Robert Hampton. The family soon moved to Nelson, B.C., where Jack’s father established a business as a jeweller and watchmaker.
Jack enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force (R.C.A.F.) in Vancouver, B.C., on June 28, 1940. Following training as a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner, he served in England with the R.C.A.F. 144 (R.A.F.) Squadron, Bomber Command. On February 27, 1942, while returning from night operations over Germany, Jack was killed along with his three fellow crew members when their Handley Page Hampden bomber crashed at Warmsworth, near Doncaster, in Yorkshire, England. He was buried at the Doncaster (Rose Hill) Cemetery.
The letters in the collection are written by Jack to his mother and father in Nelson, B.C., and to his sister Phyllis (m. Gautschi). Among those most frequently mentioned in the letters are his brother Lieutenant Robert Hampton Gray, VC, DFC, who during this time was training as a pilot with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve. Hampton was killed on August 9, 1945, just days before the end of the war. Also frequently mentioned is Jack’s closest friend, R.C.A.F. Flight Sergeant Henry "Harry" F.C. Humphries.
In a number of his letters Jack writes about the film Target for Tonight, the Academy Award winning documentary film about an R.A.F. bomber crew conducting a bombing raid over Germany. Jack’s squadron participated in the production of the film, with Jack (and his friend Harry) appearing several times in the scenes where the aircrews are being briefed. More information is available in CLIP’s Special Items Collection Target for Tonight.
External links:
F/S John Balfour Gray’s service record (Serv/Reg# R58225) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Gray can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Lieut. Robert Hampton Gray's service record (Serv/Reg# V13438) is available online through Library and Archives Canada.
F/S Henry F.C. Humphries (Serv/Reg# R54094) survived the war; his Service Record is not open for public access at this time.
The film Target for Tonight, hosted by the Imperial War Museums website; the film has been divided into six separate media files of between six to eleven minutes each in length.
[Editor’s notes:
Collection reviewed/updated June-July 2022. Transcriptions proofed and corrections made where applicable, and content descriptions reviewed/expanded. Some new materials have been added; no materials have been removed but duplicate postings, if present, will have been corrected.
On given name/surname use: “Jack” has been used rather than the surname/given name in order to clearly distinguish between other similarly named family members, both here and in related Gray family Collections. (”Jack” was the name most widely, and often exclusively, used by friends and family.)]
Able Seaman John Teaton Gray was born in Central Kingsclear, New Brunswick, on November 25, 1924, to parents Robert Michael and Florence Grace (née Pincombe) Gray.
Gray enlisted with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve on October 28, 1942. The letters in the collection were written while he was stationed at the shore establishments of H.M.C.S. Brunswicker, H.M.C.S. Cornwallis, and H.M.C.S. Stadacona; and while serving aboard H.M.S. Caldwell and H.M.C.S. Huron. Gray was demobilized on September 20, 1945.
Most of the letters in the collection were written by Gray to members of his family back home on the family farm near Fredericton, New Brunswick. But also included is a letter written to Florence Grace Gray from her brother Private Phillip H. Pincombe (Ser# G50737), serving with 25th Canadian Forestry Corps in Scotland.
External links:
Gray’s Service Record (Serv/Reg# V50367), as with most records of WWII veterans not killed in service, is not publicly available at this time.
Lieutenant Robert Hampton (Hammie/Hammy) Gray, VC, DSC, was born in Trail, British Columbia, on November 2, 1917, to parents John Balfour Gray Sr. and Wilhelmina (née McAllister) Gray. Hampton had one older sister, Phyllis Wilma, and one younger brother, John (Jack) Balfour Jr. The young family soon moved to Nelson, B.C., where Hampton’s father established a business as a jeweller and watchmaker. After completing high school in Nelson in 1936, Hampton initially enrolled at the University of Alberta, later transferring to the University of British Columbia.
With Canada now at war, Gray enlisted on July 18, 1940, at HMCS Tecumseh in Calgary with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR). After an initial training period in England, Gray was assigned to the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm for training as a fighter pilot.
While serving aboard the HMS Formidable Gray was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for “determination and address in air attacks on targets in Japan” following the sinking of a Japanese destroyer on July 28, 1945. (The London Gazette, August 21, 1945). He was killed on August 9, 1945, while leading an air raid on the naval base at Onagawa Bay, Japan. Gray was posthumously awarded the Commonwealth’s highest military decoration, the Victoria Cross (VC), “for great valor in leading an attack on a Japanese destroyer in Onagawa” (The London Gazette, Nov. 13, 1945).
The letters in the Hampton Gray Collection begin shortly after his 1940 enlistment and continue through the war to the summer of 1945. Almost all were written by Hampton to his parents in Nelson, B.C., or to his sister Phyllis in Calgary, Alberta. Many of the letters mention Hampton’s brother Jack who was serving in England with the Royal Canadian Air Force. More information on Jack Gray, including over thirty of Jack’s wartime letters, can be found in the John (Jack) Balfour Gray Collection.
External links:
Lt. Gray’s Service Record (Reg/Ser# V13438) is available online through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Gray can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
The awarding to Gray of the Distinguished Service Cross was published in The London Gazette on August 21, 1945 (# 37232, p. 7221); the awarding of the Victoria Cross was published on November 13, 1945 (# 37346, p. 5529).
Among the many memorials and tributes made to Lt. Gray’s service:
Gray is one of fourteen Canadians honoured at the Valiants Memorial in Ottawa, Ontario; is among those commemorated on the Halifax Memorial, Point Pleasant, Halifax, Nova Scotia; and is a member of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame.
On March 12, 1946, the Geographic Board of Canada designated “Grays Peak” within the Kokanee Mountain Range, British Columbia, in remembrance of both RCNVR Lt. Robert Hampton Gray and his brother RCAF Flight Sergeant John Balfour Gray.
His mother, Mrs. Wilhelmina Gray, was appointed as the 1969 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother, participating in the 1969 Remembrance Day wreath laying ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on behalf of all mothers of children who have been lost while in military service.
[Editor’s note: Additional materials for the Robert Hampton Gray Collection, along with other members of the Gray family, have been recently received and are anticipated to be made available online in the spring of 2023.]
Flight Sergeant Harry E. Hansell was born on April 13, 1923 and raised in Alberta. At the age of 19, he enlisted with the RCAF in Edmonton in February, 1942. Hansell served overseas with the 16 Squadron Conversion Unit, the 427 Squadron, and the 434 Squadron. He and his crew were shot down on a raid over Germany on September 27, 1943. The collection consists of more than twenty letter from Hansell as well as official correspondence concerning his death.
External links:
Flight Sergeant Harry Ernest Hansell’s service record (Serv/Reg# R160789) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Hansell can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Lance Corporal T. Lloyd Harber was born in Toronto, Ontario, to parents Thomas Lorenzo and Alice Jane Harber. He was the fourth of five children, with siblings Margaret, William, Marie, and Jack..
Harber enlisted in the army in December of 1942, training at Camp Borden before heading overseas the following June with the 48th Highlanders of Canada, #4 Canadian Infantry Reinforcement Unit. By September of 1943 he was serving with A Company, 1st Battalion, Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada. As part of the Normandy Invasion, Harber was among the earliest of the troops landing at Juno Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. A head wound six weeks later resulted in his return to England for several months. Harber went on to serve in Holland and Germany, prior to his return to Canada for demobilization following the end of the war.
Harber’s enlistment occurred around the same time that his older brother, Flying Officer William George David Harber, was killed in action. F/O Harber had joined the R.C.A.F. in July of 1941. He died on November 7, 1942, when his aircraft was lost between Sydney, Nova Scotia and Torbay, Newfoundland.
Content notes:
The collection’s letters were written by Harber to his sisters Margaret and Marie, beginning at the start of his enlistment and continuing to mid-1945. Many letters include interesting descriptive details of military life and events. An example is his letter of July 15, 1944, which includes details about his specialized training prior to D-Day as part of the Assault Troops/Special Service Troops in preparation for leading beach landings.
Harber’s full first name (initial “T”) is unknown.
External links:
L/Cpl. Lloyd Harber’s service record (Serv/Reg# B134028) is not publicly available at this time.
F/O(P) William George David Haber’s service record (Serv/Reg# J11291) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
William Cameron Hay was born in Toronto, Ontario in March, 1925 and joined the RCAF in 1943. He served overseas with the RCAF until the end of the war. The collection consists of more than forty letters from 1943 to 1945 between Bill Hay and his girlfriend and later wife, Hilda Cook.
Malcolm Ronald Healy enlisted in June, 1941 in Kentville, Nova Scotia. Healy served oveseas in Europe and was demobilized in November, 1945. The collection currently consists of nine photographs and miscellaneous personal items.
Lance Corporal Walter Celeste Heinzman was born November 13, 1910, in Richardton, North Dakota, to parents Rudolf and Ermengarde Heinzman. Much of the family latter settled in Weyburn, Saskatchewan.
Heinzman enlisted in Weyburn for Active Service on September 9, 1939, with the South Saskatchewan Regiment. While serving with that Regiment, he was part of the ill-fated Dieppe Raid (Operation Jubilee), the attempted Allied invasion at Dieppe, France, on August 19, 1942. Heinzman was killed during the raid, and is buried at the Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery, Hautot-sur-Mer, France.
Content notes:
Government records spell Heinzman’s middle name as both “Celeste” and “Celest.”
External links:
L/Cpl. Heinzman’s service record (Serv/Reg# L12086) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring L/Cpl. Heinzman can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Able Seaman Kenneth Francis Henderson was born in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1922. As a sailor with Royal Canadian Navy in WWII he served for several years aboard the Bangor-class minesweeper H.M.C.S. Thunder. He married Elsie Marie (née Goodwin) on February 8, 1944, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The letters in the Henderson collection were written to Elsie during the period of June 4–25, 1944, and describe Henderson’s experiences during the D-Day landing operations on the coast of Normandy, France.
External links:
AB Henderson’s service record (Serv/Reg# unknown) is not open to public access at this time.
[Editor’s Note: The rank of “Able Seaman” was Henderson’s rank at the time the collection’s letters were written. His final rank upon leaving the Navy in the 1960’s is unknown.]
Major Carl Clifford Henneberg, OBE, was born on July 8, 1906, to parents Augustus and Ellen Henneberg. He studied at the Manitoba Medical School. After graduating in 1933 he moved to Flin Flon, Manitoba, where he worked as a doctor with the Flin Flon Medical Services Company and the city’s General Hospital.
Henneberg joined the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps on September 9, 1939, as a Lieutenant in medical unit No. 5 General Hospital. Once overseas in early 1940, he worked at the Canadian military hospital at Farnborough, England. While in England Henneberg married Canadian Nursing Sister Kay Warham.
From mid-1944 to March 1945 Henneberg was stationed in Rome, Italy. In the final months of the war he returned to Canada in April of 1945, joined by Kay a few weeks later; the couple settled in Winnipeg, Man., where Henneberg was posted at the Fort Osborne Hospital.
In recognition of his service while in Italy, Henneberg was appointed to the Order of the British Empire on July 7, 1945.
Content notes:
Letters were written between 1939-1945 by Henneberg to his friend and business partner Dr. Peter Guttormsson and family in Flin Flon, Man. (later in Vancouver, B.C.). Featured among the photographs are several with various members of the royal family, including two with the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. Information on Henneberg’s overseas deployment locations and dates is somewhat limited.
External links:
Major Carl Henneberg (Serv/Reg# not assigned) survived the war; his service record is not open to public access at this time.
His appointment to the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire was published in The London Gazette on September 13, 1945 (#37262, p.4557).
