Documenting the WWII Fallen of Toronto's Elementary Schools
Donald Franklin Dittmer
(Not on Norway's nor any Honour Roll for his elementary school. He is commemorated on Western Tech's memorial.)
Don Dittmer's parents, Daniel Dittmer and Mary Louise (née Prueter) were born in Mitchell, Ontario in 1883 and 1887, respectively to German immigrant farming families. They married in 1905 and by 1911 had a farm in Manitoba and two surviving children, Lorne and Frieda (their first child, Albert died in infancy). When Daniel enlisted in December 1915 in the First World War, they'd had another daughter, Adeline and the family was living in Winnipeg. Daniel had given up farming and was a motor engineer He was assigned to the Canadian Engineers, but health issues led to his discharge in Ottawa in May 1916. Another daughter, Helen was born circa 1918.
By the time Don was born on January 16, 1921, they were living in Toronto, on Gould Street. Daniel worked for various companies, as a porter and a yardman. They moved to the west end and another son, Gerald, joined the family circa 1923. Don wore glasses until he was five years old to correct a squint in his left eye. He may have inherited it from his father as Daniel also had difficulties with his left eye. Daniel presumably died or otherwise left the family around the time that their youngest son, Vincent was born in 1926 because there are no records for Daniel after this date. When Don enlisted, he stated that his father disappeared twelve years before. On paperwork that Mary filled out in 1944, she claimed that her husband was deceased.
Mary moved the family into 85 Glenmount Park Road by the time Don started school at Norway in 1926. In 1931, one of his brothers contracted tuberculosis and had to live in a sanitarium for a year. Don attended Norway until 1933 when he was in Grade 6. The Dittmers moved to the Roncesvalles and Dundas area and Don finished elementary school at Fern Avenue. He studied as an industrial machinist at Western Tech from 1934 to 1937.
Don worked at several different companies, mainly as a tool maker. He broke his right wrist in 1939, which forced him leave one job. In October 1941, he took a job as a tool supervisor at John Inglis and Company in what is now Liberty Village. Inglis at the time was manufacturing Bren machine guns for the forces. After the war the company became famous building washing machines.
With the security of his new job, Don married his sweetheart Alice Sawchuk on January 7, 1942 in what is now Roncesvalles United Church. They moved into an apartment at 43 Grenadier Road. Don enlisted in the RCAF on July 9, 1942. He had previously applied a year earlier, but had been considered medically unfit, probably because he was underweight. When the RCAF finally accepted him, Don was still thin – 5'11.5” and 127 pounds. He did his basic training and aptitude tests in Toronto and left for Quebec in November for more training. He worked for two months in the equipment depot in Montreal.
Alice gave birth to their son Douglas in early May 1943. Don was given 10 days' leave in the middle of the month to visit his family. When he returned, Don was transferred to Fingal, Ontario near Lake Erie to begin bombing and gunnery training. In September he continued to Malton airport (now Pearson) for the six week Air Observer course. He would have been able to visit Alice and Douglas often. Upon graduation with his Air Bomber badge, he was given the standard two week embarkation leave after which he left for Halifax on October 29, sailing for Britain on November 1.
It appears Don waited until February 1944 to be posted from the Bournemouth personnel reception centre, where airmen arriving overseas were given their assignments. He was sent to an advanced flying unit for observers to further hone his skills and then was transferred to No. 24 Operational Training Unit near Evesham, England. He arrived as part of the first group of RCAF aircrew to be trained there, as the airfield had been recently transferred to the RCAF from the RAF. Don trained on a Whitley night bomber as his crew's bomb aimer.
Armstrong Whitworth Whitley bomber. United Kingdom Government photo.
On June 21 he was transferred to an RCAF base in North Yorkshire and was part of 1666 Heavy Conversion unit, training on a Halifax bomber. The Halifax was a heavy bomber, capable of a maximum bomb load of 14,500 pounds. By June 1944, the Halifax had been replaced by the Lancaster as the main night bomber of the Allies, but with the invasion of France on D-Day, the Halifax began daylight missions, bombing enemy gun installations and other strategic targets along the French coast. Don as the bomb aimer would lie on his stomach in the nose of the plane and look through a bomb sight to guide the pilot to the target He would then determine when to push the button to drop the bombs. He was also responsible for photographing the target. The front gunner sat above him, with no footrest which sometimes resulted in the bomb aimer being stepped on. The bomb aimer could also be the recipient of the hot empty shell casings when the gunner fired.
Handley Page Halifax bomber. United Kingdom Government photo.
Don was part of a crew of seven and for training, he also doubled as the front gunner.. His pilot was Archie Moffat, a 21 year old from Winnipeg. 30 year old George Lewthwaite from Montreal was the navigator and the wireless operator was 23 year old Frank Green from Calgary. The gunners were both from Ontario: Albert Reynolds was 20 years old, from Tweed and the rear gunner was John Ludlow, a 19 year old Torontonian who attended Northern Vocational (now Northern Secondary). The only non-Canadian was the RAF flight engineer, Iain Livingstone, 33, from Oban in the Scottish West Highlands.
Don's Halifax Bomber “Easy Does It” in 1943. Don's position was in the lower part of the nose. From yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk.
On July 23, 1944 at 2145 hrs, their Halifax took off from RAF Wombleton, to train in a bombing exercise. On their return, the crew was to perform a fighter affiliation exercise. They completed the first part of the mission and returned to the area above the base. They received permission to make contact with a Hurricane pilot. The Hurricane and Halifax flew together at 7000 feet, but the Hurricane pilot reported that the Halifax's starboard outer engine was on fire. Fire spread to the aircraft before a landing could be undertaken and the Halifax spiralled out of control, hitting the ground at 0355 hrs several miles south of the airfield. All aboard were killed.
The main question at the inquest was why no one bailed out because at 7000 feet they would have had time. The conclusion was that pilot Moffat never gave the order to bail out, although this could never be confirmed.
Don's grave, Harrowgate Cemetery. From www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk.
Don is buried in Harrowgate Cemetery in Yorkshire. His widow Alice married a printer named William Lyle and Don's mother Mary returned to live with her family in western Ontario. She died in 1963. Don's youngest brother Vincent named a son after Don.