This year marks the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The Ladysmith Cenotaph is inscribed with the names of six men from that service who lost their lives in military action or training missions during the Second World War. The families of these six young men from North Oyster, Cedar, Saltair and Ladysmith itself all received one of the 52 telegrams sent to homes in our area during the war. All of the telegrams began with the dreaded phrase “We regret to inform you that your son…”
Like many of us, I cannot help but wonder how the loss of these young warriors impacted our small community. In partial answer to that question, and with grateful assistance from Susan Knoss, John and Esther Sharp and other volunteer researchers at the Ladysmith & District Historical Society, I have included some personal background information on each of the six air crew we are remembering.
FLIGHT SERGEANT DOUGLAS ROY GILL
Doug Gill was born in Anyox, B.C on March 3, 1919. Soon after, the family moved to Blaney’s Crossing in Saltair. Doug attended school here, graduating from Ladysmith High School in 1936. He started work as a bookkeeper with a local lumber company, but with the outbreak of war, he initially enlisted with the Royal Canadian Army in August, 1940 before joining the RCAF in December of that same year. Doug trained as a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner and was then posted to Debert, Nova Scotia in late September, 1941, shortly after marrying a Nanaimo girl, Lorraine Squire, in Chemainus.
On Oct. 25, 1941, Doug and two others were in a Lockheed Hudson twin engine bomber on a cross country training flight when their plane went down in a blinding snowstorm near Tupper Lake in upstate New York, killing all aboard.
Doug had been a popular student in high school, due in part to his exceptional talent playing the piano. At his funeral service at Calvary Baptist Church in Chemainus, an RCAF honour guard stood at attention while a bugler from the Irish Fusiliers played Reveille and Taps. Among the hundreds of floral tributes lay an embroidered pillow from his young bride. After the service, a funeral procession of more than 300 cars made their way to the burial site in Ladysmith Cemetery. He is the only Second World War casualty buried there.
Douglas Gill had been married 35 days.
FLIGHT SERGEANT FRANK BURRILL (Birth name: Rowlerson)
Frank was born June 24, 1922 in Durham England. After Frank’s father died, his mother immigrated to Canada, remarried and moved to North Oyster in 1934 where they operated a store. Frank graduated in 1940 from Ladysmith High School and almost immediately enlisted in the RCAF. It was his dream to be a pilot.
When Frank returned to visit LHS to speak to the student body after learning of Doug Gill’s death, his principal proudly mentioned that Doug had been just one of 20 LHS graduates currently serving in the RCAF (a list of their names is included in the 1940-41 school yearbook Spion Kop). Vice Principal John Petrak commented that “The carefree manner of student days was replaced by a sincerity of purpose which gave Frank a dignified appearance in his Air Force Blue.”
Frank received his Flying Badge in November 1941 and began active service in Britain as a sergeant with RAF #101 Squadron and later New Zealand Squadron #75. He was trained to fly the twin engined Vickers Wellington and on his first plane had “Rosalie” — the name of his girl back home on Bayview Avenue — painted on the nose cone.
On Sept. 10, 1942 Frank departed Mildenhall Base in Suffolk on a bombing raid over Dusseldorf, Germany. Frank and his plane were never heard from again.
There was no funeral or memorial service for Frank Burrill. His mother refused to give up hope that he had survived and was a POW somewhere in Germany. Frank’s brother, Jack, also a pilot, survived the war and returned home safely to his family.
FLIGHT SERGEANT LIONEL HARRY WILLIAMS
Lionel was born Dec. 30, 1917 in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The family moved to Saltair in 1935, where Lionel continued to be heavily involved with boxing. He had been Alberta Provincial Champion in his weight class before moving to B.C. Lionel was active in local boxing and even succeeded in defeating the reigning B.C. champion. Lionel completed his Junior Matriculation and began work first as a bookkeeper in the Chemainus mill, then as a bank clerk for the Canadian Bank of Commerce in Duncan.
Despite his boxing profile, Saltair neighbours found him a quiet, even shy boy who often took long solitary swims out from the lagoon, not returning for hours. As one neighbour commented in an interview, “If I hadn’t seen him in the ring, I never would have thought he was the military type.”
But Lionel was anxious to serve his country. On Nov. 22, 1940 he joined the Rocky Mountain Rangers, quickly rising to the rank of Corporal. On July 1, 1941 he enlisted in the RCAF and began training as an air gunner. Lionel, known as Harry in the RCAF, was promoted to Sergeant after completing his training and was sent in March, 1942 to #405 City of Vancouver Squadron in Britain where he was assigned as an air gunner on the seven man crew of a Handley Page Halifax four engine bomber.
On Oct. 2, 1942 after completing more than 38 missions, Harry’s plane was shot down over Holland while returning from a bombing mission in Germany. He and the other crew members were buried at Noorwijk General Cemetery west of Leden in Holland.
This was to have been Harry’s last flight before being reassigned as a trainer.
FLIGHT SERGEANT DUNCAN COMRIE FERGUSON
Comrie was born Sept. 23, 1920 in New Westminster, B.C. As his mother had a number of mental health problems, he was raised by his mother’s sister Grace Seggie and her husband John Ford.
Despite this difficult start to life, Comrie was known by his foster parents and neighbours as a happy child and by his teachers as a diligent student. (Comrie had perfect attendance through high school!)
Everyone liked Comrie, and his sister Agnes doted on him. She was not only a positive influence on Comrie but everyone around her. ‘Nessie’ Ferguson went on to become one of Ladysmith’s most beloved primary teachers. Both attended Diamond School and after graduating from Ladysmith High School and attending Normal School Comrie returned to the Diamond to teach for two years at the school he had attended.
But Comrie’s father Daniel had been a First World War veteran and he felt the call to arms just as strongly as his male compatriots. Comrie wanted to be a pilot and enlisted in the RCAF in June of 1941. He began training on the Prairies and then quickly transferred to Britain, fully qualified as an Air Observer, Navigator and Bombardier. All in less than one year of preparation!
On Nov. 9, 1942 Comrie was the Bombardier on a Vickers Wellington bomber on a non-operational flight over the North Sea. Neither the six man crew nor the plane were ever seen again, so it is unknown if they crashed or were shot down. Comrie was 22 at the time, the average age of the 17,000 young men killed in the RCAF in the Second World War.
PILOT OFFICER DOUGLAS ANDREW THICKE
Doug was born in Ladysmith Dec. 25, 1922. He was the youngest of four brothers and an older sister. One brother was in the RCAF. Another taught Industrial Arts at Ladysmith High School and was a Commanding Officer of 257 Squadron Ladysmith Air Cadets.
Despite losing their father at an early age, all of the children did well in academics and sports. Doug, for example, was vice president of the student council and a star soccer player. Doug was in second year Arts and Science at UBC when he heeded the call to join the RCAF on Feb. 11, 1942.
After training in Alberta, he graduated as a Sergeant Pilot. He received his commission as a Pilot Officer in January, 1942 and was a member of #434 Bluenose Squadron. On March 8, 1944 Doug was the second pilot on a Handley Page Halifax on a mine laying mission near Heligoland, a German Island in the North Sea. The plane crashed on the moors just moments before reaching the air strip. It was later determined that flak damage to the aircraft probably caused the plane to crash, taking the lives of all eight crew.
Reports in the March 1944 Ladysmith Chronicle testify to the impact losing the youngest Thicke boy had on the town. The Ladysmith Archives also has an extensive file on “The Crash on the Moors” including letters left by air crew members to their wives and children which are very touching.
FLYING OFFICER NICHOLAS MAXWELL POPOVICH
Max was born Nov. 5, 1920 in Ladysmith. He was the middle child of five. He grew up in Ladysmith and graduated from Ladysmith High School in 1938. Both of his older brothers signed up with the Canadian Armed forces in the Second World War, and a sister trained as a nurse. However, after high school, Max attended the Seminary of Christ the King in Ladner from 1938 to 1941 studying Arts and then continued his studies for two years in Ottawa in Theology training to become a priest.
It is intriguing to speculate what motivated Max to leave his studies in Theology and join the RCAF in October of 1943. However, aside from an expressed interest in flying on his attestation papers, I was unable to find a suitable explanation.
Max trained as a Sergeant pilot then as a navigation officer. He was made a Temporary Flying Officer in April 1945 and assigned to Maritimes Command. He was then transferred to Patricia Bay Air Base and assigned to #11 Bomber Reconnaissance Squad, patrolling the Pacific Coast looking for Japanese submarines.
On July 13, 1945 the war in the Pacific was drawing to a close but training continued. Max was the navigator on a seven man crew flying a four engine Consolidated B 24 Liberator on a round trip to pick up and drop off passengers at Ucluelet and Tofino. They were heard flying over Ucluelet, then nothing. A search was started when the bomber was declared overdue.
The airplane had crashed and burned 24 kilometers southeast of Bamfield. Due to the remote location, the 14 victims were buried in two mass graves — one for the 11 men and one for the three women.
This concludes the profiles on the six RCAF airmen who are named on the Ladysmith Cenotaph. Much more information on these six brave young men is contained in the Ladysmith Archives. You are welcome to drop by Monday to Friday if you would like to learn more. I would like to conclude this article with words spoken by veteran and Rotarian David Walbanks at the conclusion of the Empty Chair Ceremony to honour Frank Burrill in 2011.
"Those who served and do not come home are not missing from our community if we keep the memory alive. We give thanks for their courage, we grieve for their loss, and pledge to remember them."
