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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.

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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.
Additional materials for the John (Jack) Gray Collection, along with those of other members of the Gray family, have been recently received and are anticipated to be made available online in the spring of 2023.
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.

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.

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.]

William Lloyd Hollett was born in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia in September, 1913.  He served overseas with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment, R.C.I.C. until his death on October 26, 1944, age 33.  The collection currently consists of more than forty letters.

External links:
Private William Lloyd Hollett’s service record (Serv/Reg# F11177) 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 Hollett can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Humewood School is a school in Toronto, Ontario which during WWII sent parcels to ex-Humewood students who were serving during the war.  This unique collection currently consists of more than forty letters of thank you back to the school for Christmas parcels sent for Christmas of 1944.

John "Jack" Fenton Humphrey was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia in October, 1922.  He enlisted with the RCAF and trained as an aircraft mechanic in 1941 and was sent overseas to Britain.  In 1943 Humphrey trained as a rear gunner  and then was sent again overseas.  He returned to Canada at the end of the war.  The collection currently consists of more than thirty letters written by Humphrey during the war.

One part of the collection consists of letters written by Harry Clark, Jr., to his mother, Jane (Jennie) Clark, in London, Ontario, after he had enlisted in the Canadian Army. The other letters were received by a distant relative, Kathleen Jackson (ne Hastings), while she was recovering from tuberculosis in London, Ontario. The letters, which describe conditions in wartime Britain, were written by relatives of Kathleen,s father Hugh Hastings, who died while convalescing from wounds sustained in the First World War.

Donald Sinclair Jamieson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in June 1924.  He enlisted with the RCAF and served with the 426 Squadron.  On December 16, 1943, while returning from a mission over Germany, his Lancaster crashed on return to England.  Five crew members were killed immediately, one later died of injuries, and Jamieson walked away with only ten stitches (see his letter of December 1943).  While returning from a mission over Germany on June 28/29 1944 his his Halifax was shot down, but all the crew bailed out successfully over France and were sheltered by French citizens of the village of Honguemare.  Jamieson and another crew member were captured on July 14 and held in prison.  They were taken out of the prison on the night of August 21, 1944 and executed.  Their bodies were never found and they are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.  Jamieson was twenty years old at the time.  The collection currently consists of two letters and one photograph.

External links:
Flying Officer Donald Sinclair Jamieson’s service record (Serv/Reg# J19863) 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 Jamieson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Robert Lloyd Jones was born in Vulcan, Alberta in November, 1918. He enlisted with the R.C.A.F. in 1939 and served overseas with the 405 Squadron as an Aero Engine Mechanic. Jones returned to Canada in September, 1945. The collection currently consists of one photograph and two letters published in the local newspaper, The Vulcan Advocate.

Paul Lapointe was born in Chicoutimi, Quebec on Jan 30, 1905. He enlisted on February 26, 1943 and sailed overseas on July 19, 1944. He served in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany with the Royal Canadian Engineers. He returned to England on August 1, 1945 and back to Canada on January 23, 1946. Paul Lapointe passed away on November 7, 2002. This collection consists of four letters and one diary in the original French with English translations, as well as photographs and miscellaneous documents.

Flying Officer Frank Wilfred Latham was born June 11th, 1916, to parents Frank & Edith Latham, of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Prior to his enlistment he was living in Trail, British Columbia, with his wife Jean and their two children Barbara and Dennis.

He enlisted in Calgary, Alberta, in the fall of 1942 with the Royal Canadian Air Force; with Frank on active service his family relocated back to Moose Jaw. Their third child, Gary Frank, was born in July of 1944 but died shortly thereafter in late October.

Latham was serving as a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner on anti-submarine patrol with the 162nd Squadron out of Iceland when on December 19th, 1944, in high winds and blinding snow their Canso aircraft (A #11061) crashed into a mountainside S.E. of Reykjavik, Iceland, killing all 8 crew members. He is buried in Reykjavik (Fossvogur) Cemetery, Iceland.

The collection includes a diary Jean Latham kept in their son Gary’s Our Baby’s Story book of his death in October of 1944, and of her husband’s less than two months later.

External links:
Flying Officer Latham's Service Record Information (Reg/Ser# J/41740) is available online through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring him can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

The collection contains three letters from Robina Evelyn Lee home to her parents in Glasgow detailing her journey from Britain to Vancouver. She was coming to Canada as a war bride after marrying Alfred Roberston Lee, a member of the Canadian Navy whom she met in Britain during the war. Also included are other items such as some individual photographs, wedding photographs, and a photograph of the ship on which she came to Canada.

Edward (Ted) Loney was born in October, 1920 in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1943 Loney joined the Royal Canadian Artillery and served as an anti-aircraft gunner until he returned to Canada in 1946. The collection consists of more than one hundred letters.

Vincent Sanford MacCausland was born in Tyne Valley, Prince Edward Island on February 1, 1913. He enlisted in March, 1940 with the RCAF before being attached to the 617 Squadron RAF. MacCausland was killed on a raid on May 17, 1943. The collection consists of fourteen letters and several photographs.

External links:
Flying Officer Vincent Sanford MacCausland’s service record (Serv/Reg# J15309) 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 MacCausland can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Maurice Melville Maloney was born in Meaford, Ontario in February, 1918. Maloney served overseas with the 15th Canadian Ambulance Corps as well as the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Medical Corps. He returned to Canada at the end of the war and died in 1996. The collection currently consists of fourteen letters, poems, telegrams, clippings, and other miscellaneous items.

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Latest Readings from World War Two collections

Rick Mercer

Reads a 10/25/1943 Letter by Styles, Jack Morris from World War Two collections. View full Letter

The Right Honourable David Johnston

Reads a 05/28/1944 Letter by Senton, Claude from World War Two collections. View full Letter

Chris Hadfield

Reads a Memoir by Selfe, C.A. (Tony) from World War Two collections. View full Memoir