This post is In Memory of those 12 Canadian Airmen who are interred in Maynamati War Cemetery, Comilla, Bangladesh. note: 10 images attached What I find of particular interest here is that, between them, these 12 men served with 11 different squadrons. Eleven of these men served as Aircrew and BLONDEAU served as Groundcrew. His details, via The Canadian Virtual War Memorial, can be viewed here: https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/1056886 62 (R.A.F.) Sqdn - Royal Canadian Air Force - JOHN ALLAN FRASER 99 (R.A.F.) Sqdn - Royal Canadian Air Force - LORNE GERALD DOBSON 113 (R.A.F.) Sqdn - Royal Canadian Air Force - LESLIE WARD 146 (R.A.F.) Sqdn - Royal Canadian Air Force - JOHN LEWIS GIBSON 177 (R.A.F.) Sqdn - Royal Canadian Air Force - WALTER ROBERTS 215 (R.A.F.) Sqdn - Royal Canadian Air Force - EDWARD FRANKLIN GILBERT and MURRAY MACDONALD GARDNER 238 (R.A.F.) Sqdn - Royal Canadian Air Force - RUPERT EDWARD CAMPBELL EDWARDS 436 (R.A.F.) Sqdn - Royal Canadian Air Force - LOUIS BLONDEAU 607 (R.A.F.) Sqdn - Royal Canadian Air Force - HARRY LEWIS GILL 615 (R.A.F.) Sqdn - Royal Canadian Air Force - WILFRED SIDNEY BOND 684 (R.A.F.) Sqdn - Royal Canadian Air Force - ALEXANDER GRAY ORR Images covering 9 grave-markers attached and remaining 3 also available on request. LEST WE FORGET Tony Buckley www.asiawargraves.com
I know the Canadians mobilized a large military. though being in Burma / SE Asia came as a surprise and so I followed the Blondeau link, he was serving with RCAF 436 (Elephant) Squadron. Three squadron veterans stories are available on: 436 (Elephant) Squadron, RCAF - Veteran Stories - The Memory Project and an officer's: Holland, William John - TracesOfWar.com With RCAF 435 (Chinthe) Squadron there is a slim history of the two transport squadrons: Sqn Histories 431-443_P They formed part of the Combat Cargo Task Force, supplying the 14th Army. My curiousity is satisfied.
There was a reasonably priced copy of the Squadron history available on eBay recently and I was tempted. It's unsurprisingly gone now, leaving only the usual expensive examples:
