Pilot Officer Ernest Maurice Witt was born in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, on October 22, 1909, to parents William Ernest Witt and Helen Maria McKenzie Witt (née Ellis). A graduate of the University of Manitoba, Witt studied education at the University of British Columbia. He worked as a high school teacher in Lake Cowichan. Married in 1938 to Helen May Newton, they had one child, Ernest Brian Witt, born in November 1940.
Witt enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force in August 1941 in Vancouver, B.C. Trained first as a navigator and then bomb aimer, Witt spent several months in late 1942 with R.C.A.F. No. 428 Squadron, before joining R.C.A.F. No. 405, in January 1943.
On July 14, 1943, Witt was flying a night mission to Aachen, Germany, when his Halifax II aircraft HR905 went missing. It was later determined that he had been killed when his plane crashed at Asten, Holland. Witt was buried in the Jonkerbos War Cemetery, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Also killed were R.C.A.F. No. 405 Sqdn. members: F/L Roy Gordon Morrison, DFC; F/O George Glover McGladrey, DFC; P/O Thomas Henry Navin Emerson, DFM; and F/S Douglas Glenn Bebensee, DFM, as well as Royal Air Force member S/L Denzil Lloyd.Wolfe (Wolfe was Canadian but enlisted in England with the R.A.F.). Two other crew members, R.C.A.F. F/L D.M. Clarke, and R.A.F. F/L D.J. Smith (New Zealand) survived and were taken prisoner.
Collection contents:
The collection’s letters were written by Witt to his wife and parents between February and June 1943.
External links:
P/O Ernest Maurice Witt’s service record (Serv/Reg# J17710) 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 Witt can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Links to records of aircrew killed with Witt on July 14, 1943:
R.C.A.F. F/S Douglas Glenn Bebensee, DFM, service record (Serv/Reg# R68061)
R.C.A.F. P/O Thomas Henry Navin Emerson, DFM, service record (Serv/Reg# J18062)
R.C.A.F. F/O George Glover McGladrey, DFC, service record (Serv/Reg# J6843)
R.C.A.F. F/L Roy Gordon Morrison, DFC, service record (Serv/Reg# J9764)
R.A.F. S/L Denzil Lloyd Wolfe, DFC, (Serv/Reg# 39805) burial information at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and memorial page at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
