Documenting the WWII Fallen of Toronto's Elementary Schools
Alexander Peter Campbell
Alexander's father, Peter McFarlane Campbell, was born in 1890 in Govan, Scotland, a suburb of Glasgow, to a horse foreman. He came to Canada before the First World War and worked as a farmer, probably near Peterborough, Ontario. On January 15, 1916 he enlisted in the Canadian army and was assigned to a machine gun battery. He married Martha Wallace on July 3 that year in Toronto, just a week prior to shipping out to Britain. A month later he was in France, most likely fighting at the Somme and suffered a minor shrapnel wound in September. In April 1918 he became sick with trench fever, a disease caught from lice. It developed into pneumonia and he was shipped back to England to recover where he stayed until early 1919 when he returned to Toronto to be demobilized. Martha had been living in the Ossington and Harbord area while Peter was away. Returning Canadian veterans who wanted to farm could apply for a government loan to purchase land, stock and equipment. Peter was one of 25,000 who took advantage of the scheme, taking a farm near Dinsmore, Saskatchewan, a village 90 kilometres southwest of Saskatoon.
Early in 1922, Martha died. It appears that Peter was desperate to replace her because on March 6, he married Annie Bannerman Coutts in Toronto. She had been born in the small Scottish village of Monquhitter, Aberdeenshire in 1887, the daughter of a cattle dealer. In 1913 she immigrated to Toronto to be a typist, marrying a man named McDonald. He died, most likely in the war, and in 1922 she was working as a domestic servant. When he married, Peter was staying with his older brother Thomas who lived near Bay and Bloor. Peter promptly whisked Annie to his farm near Dinsmore and she gave birth to Alexander on February 8, 1923. A brother Colin was born the next year and a sister Jean followed in 1925 or 1926.
By 1925, like many of the veterans who took the government farming loans, Peter didn't succeed and the family returned to Toronto that year. He took a job with an oil company and the family rented a house near River and Dundas Streets. In late 1927 they had to move as the house was being sold and they settled on Cumberland Avenue near Bay and Bloor. Alexander would have started school at Jesse Ketchum. Quaker State Oil bought out the company Peter was working for and the family moved briefly to Davisville Avenue in 1933. Alexander and his siblings likely attended Maurice Cody school. The next year the Campbells moved back downtown, to a house that was at 44 Irwin Avenue. The children transferred to Wellesley school which Alexander attended until he graduated in 1937. He entered Jarvis Collegiate that year.
Alexander played rugby at school and he liked swimming, basketball, wrestling and badminton. He was an active member of the YMCA which was at Bay and College. He'd had the usual childhood illnesses and removal of his tonsils and adenoids. His only major illness had been diptheria when he was four.
He graduated with his junior matriculation from Jarvis in 1940 and was described by the principal as an “intelligent and diligent student and a fine athlete.” He became a clerk at the Church and Wellington branch of the Bank of Toronto in March 1941. He left that job in July with the offer of a better position as his father's assistant at the warehouse of Quaker State Oil. It was located at 437 Fleet Street, near the Exhibition grounds and close to the navy recruiting depot, HMCS York.
The night before he was to be interviewed by the navy in early 1942, Alexander was hospitalized for an appendectomy, but recovered quickly and returned to his work. He changed his mind about the navy and enlisted in the RCAF on October 16, 1942.
The RCAF's basic training camp (Manning Depot) in Toronto was located in the Exhibition grounds where the men slept in stalls in the Horse Building and trained on the grounds. Alexander was stationed there until January 25, 1943 when he began the pre-aircrew course at Central Tech and then went through his initial training where it was determined his position in a crew. That school was located near Avenue Road and Eglinton Avenue. Alexander was assigned to the navigator stream and was sent to Trenton for a week at the end of April. He returned to Toronto for a three week leave while he awaited the start of the next navigator's course.
At the end of May Alexander took the train to No. 2 Wireless School in Calgary where he spent the rest of the year learning Morse code and signalling. More than 16 hours training were spent in the air. From August 29 to September 5, he had leave, but it is unknown whether he returned to Toronto. For many, a week's leave wasn't sufficient time to take the train back east for only two days with friends and family. An average student, Alexander won his wings on December 10 and was promoted to sergeant.
He was granted immediate leave and returned to Toronto for Christmas. On January 2, 1944 he reported to No. 8 Advanced Observer School at Ancienne Lorette base outside of Quebec City on what is today's Jean Lesage International Airport. Typically the twelve week program provided trainees with courses in reconnaissance and air navigation, including 60 to 70 hours in the air. When the marks were awarded on March 18, Alexander had failed and was quickly redeployed as an air gunner.
He reported to RCAF Mountain View, in Prince Edward Country, south of Belleville, Ontario. This was the location of No. 6 Bombing and Gunnery School. Most of the gunnery schools were located close to large bodies of water where their ranges were located. Alexander thrived there and excelled. He attended the sports parade with enthusiasm and his instructor wrote: “worked overtime on his gunnery, very interested in his course.” It was considered that he might make a good gunnery instructor some day.
All airmen were granted an embarkation leave prior to going overseas to fight. Alexander spent May 20 to June 2 with his family and friends in Toronto. He reported to RCAF Lachine, which is today's Montreal-Trudeau Airport. Most airmen were sent to Halifax to board a ship to Britain, but reporting to Lachine usually meant that the departure would either be by air or to a base which was not across the Atlantic.
During his leave, Alexander must have injured one of his thumbs, which was X-rayed on June 4. He soon departed south by train to New York and then a three day journey to Miami. A member of an earlier cohort, RAF Flight Engineer Jack Burgess described taking the journey:
This appeared to be the well-worn route, and for the very first time it was confirmed that our final destination was No.111 O.T.U. (Operational Training Unit) Nassau. This was confirmed when on arriving in Miami, we embarked on the 640 ton 'Jean Brillant' which we discovered had been built by Swan Hunter in 1935 at Newcastle. Registered in Quebec, the ship had been specially strengthened to navigate through ice in the St Lawrence, but was now pressed into military service for taking personnel to Nassau. From the moment we sailed into Nassau harbour the following morning, we entered a different world. If we were not flying, we were swimming at Wavecrest Beach.
www.aircrew-saltire.org
An operational training unit trained crews on the aircraft they would fly in battle. No. 111 OTU was a very desirable posting due to the climate and amenities. At the time, The Duke of Windsor was the governor general of the Bahamas, which added a bit of glamour to the island. The crews trained on B-24 Liberators and most graduate crews were deployed to India and the Far East. The Liberator was a long range heavy bomber that could fly for over 17 hours at a time and usually flew anti-submarine patrols. However, it was not the easiest plane to fly. It carried a crew of eleven: a pilot, a co-pilot, a navigator, a bombardier, a radio operator and five gunners located in the nose, the top and the two sides behind the wing and the tail.
Consolidated Liberator Mk VI. From www.ww2aircraft.net.
Alexander entered the course on July 10, training on the smaller Mitchell bomber, flying for over 40 hours before moving up to the Liberator on which he flew for more than 43 hours. His instructor felt that he was a “steady operator.”
He was a wireless operator/gunner on the crew of William Gordon McRae. McRae was a 29 year old Albertan, whose wife and infant son were living in Hamilton, Ontario. The crew's co-pilot was William Andrew Boyd Payne, 25, who, like McRae, was an Albertan with a wife and a pre-school-aged daughter. Irving Lindzon, the navigator, was a 21 year old from Toronto. He attended Lansdowne Public School and Harbord Collegiate. He'd left his Pharmacy course at the University of Toronto to enlist and was engaged to be married when he returned from duty. Wireless operator/gunner Edward Walter Pollard, 25, had been born in Kitchener, Ontario. His wife and four year old daughter lived in Toronto's Beach neighbourhood. The son of Welsh immigrants, Harry Parker, another of the crew's wireless operator/gunners was a 20 year old from Lisle, Ontario which is located near Camp Borden, in the Barrie area. 19 year old air gunner Jack Samuel McIver was another Toronto boy who had attended Hartman Jones Public School and East York Collegiate. His father was the principal of Leslie Street school. In May 1944, Jack's brother Malcolm had been killed when his Mosquito bomber crashed in the English Channel. He had already completed a tour of duty. Jack's other brother, Glenn, was serving with the Queen's Own Rifles on the Western Front.
L-R: Flying Officer Irving Lindzon, Flight Sergeant Jack McIver, Flying Officer Edward Pollard.
The remainder of the crew were RAF members: Flight Engineer Gordon Parker, 23, from Lancashire, England and gunners P. Roberts and R.G, Radford.
The men finished the course at the beginning of October and returned to Dorval, Quebec to await transport to Europe. On November 17 they flew from Dorval to Britain, landing in Prestwick, Scotland. It is unknown whether they were passengers on a transport flight or whether they ferried a Liberator to Britain. On November 21, they reported to the personnel reception centre in Bournemouth, England while their posting was determined. They had time for leisure because on December 17, Alexander was thrown from a horse and landed on his right shoulder. The crew reported back to Prestwick on December 26 and on December 30 they flew to India, likely ferrying a Liberator.
Gunner Jack McIver wrote a letter to his family dated January 12, 1945. A copy is in his RCAF file, due to the censorship.
Dear folks:
Well I said I was going where it is hot but it isn't so hot yet. In fact it is quite cool. Of course this is the winter of northern India in (censored). I hope you started the new year right. Let's hope this year will end it all, although I have a few doubts. My tour here will consist of 18 months or a specified number of hours which isn't so bad. I spent Christmas in England and New Years in (censored). It wasn't much of a New Years Eve. We just sat in the mess singing songs.
I was into town to-day and some guy came up and started telling my fortune for a small sum. Just for the fun of it I listened to him. According to him I am Gods gift to earth, and nothing but good luck can fall my way. All the kids in these cities are in the shoe shine business and you have to beat them off with sticks. If your shoes are clean they will dirty them for you. They have some marvellous articles for sale here. Very colorful silks, hand carved sandalwood in any shape you could want, hand carved ivory, boots made to measure and any number of things are made and sold in the city. I'm going to do a little shopping some day. Now for some business. I forget whether I told you or not but I bought another bond in Montreal before I left and it will be paid up at the end of April. When I become attached to a squadron I am going to assign sixty (60) dollars home. In that way I will save quite a bit and will still have enough for myself. I will let you know when to expect it. It will be a while before I receive any mail from you but I will keep writing anyway.
Love to all
Jack.
P.S. India isn't what the movies paint it to be.
Jack McIver's letter to his family, January 12, 1945. Library and Archives Canada.
On January 28, the crew reported to Cuttack to join RAF Squadron 354. Cuttack is located near India's northeast coast, 350 kilometres southeast of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). Liberators flew anti-submarine and anti-shipping patrols over the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.
Alexander's crew may have flown seven missions prior to arriving in Cuttack, but their first operational patrol with the squadron was on February 6. The Liberator took off at 0515 hrs on an anti U-Boat patrol of the shipping lanes along the east coast of India. They crew only spotted friendly ships and returned to base at 1533 hrs.
It was two and a half weeks before their next patrol, on the 24th and that and their next on March 8 proved to be uneventful. However, the sortie on March 11 was a grim search mission of the Andaman Sea for a missing squadron Liberator which had disappeared after engaging with an enemy ship near an island off the coast of Burma (today's Myanmar). No trace of the plane was found.
Map of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. NormanEinstein via Wikipedia.
March 26 was the crew's fifth official operation with the squadron and their plane took off at 0622 hrs. Six squadron Liberators were to sweep the Andaman Sea. They were east of the Andaman Islands when at 1220 hrs a low level attack was ordered after the planes spotted a 1500 ton Japanese merchant ship, the RISUI NARU. Alexander's Liberator flew down to 50 feet, releasing bombs which struck amidships. Almost immediately the Liberator was hit by anti-aircraft fire which broke off the starboard wing. The plane turned over and crashed into the sea, breaking into sections on impact. The tail section was sticking out of the water and Sergeants Roberts and Radford were able to swim to the surface which burned with fuel and oil. As they climbed into their dingy, the RISUI NARU sank. An enemy ship a quarter of a mile away opened fire on them with machine guns. Fifteen minutes later four British navy destroyers rescued them. They were the Liberator's only survivors.
The air command acknowledged McRae and his crew in a message to the squadron: “The determination and complete disregard of odds by A/354 in sinking 1500 ton merchant vessel is a fine example of your squadron spirit. Please accept our deepest sympathy for the loss of crew.” Alexander and the crew are commemorated on the Singapore Memorial.
Alexander's parents lived at 44 Irwin Avenue until 1948. Peter passed away in Toronto in 1958 and Annie followed him in 1961.