William Norman Gould

Bill Gould's parents came from Schomberg, Ontario. His father Jacob was born in 1886 and his mother Velma Wisner, in 1893. Jacob became a train's fireman. The couple married in September 1911 in Toronto, Jacob having moved there only the previous month. They settled in the West Toronto neighbourhood on Mullock Avenue, to be close to the train yard. The next year they welcomed a baby daughter, Leila Laurine, nicknamed Lula. Daughters Gwelda and Muriel Eileen were born in 1914 and 1918 respectively and a son, Lloyd Albert, known as Bert, was born in 1920. The family hopped around the neighbourhood, living on Vernon Street and Gilmour Avenue and when Bill was born on December 10, 1923, the Goulds were at 37 Maher Avenue. Bill started school at Strathcona in 1929 and in 1934 they moved two doors along the street to number 41. The family were members of Victoria Royce Presbyterian Church which was on Annette Street at the corner of Medland.

Clockwise, Muriel, Gwelda, Leila, Burt and Bill, circa 1930. From The Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Bill's 18 year old sister Muriel became ill in the spring of 1936 and died on May 2 of appendicitis. Whether it was co-incidence or as a protective measure, Bill had his appendix removed that year, spending nine days in the hospital to recover. In 1937 Bill graduated from Strathcona and entered Grade 9 at Western Tech, specializing in the Art course there. He left after three years, in June 1940. In September he found a job as a transformer assistant at Ferranti Electrical Company in Mount Dennis. He quit in January 1941 and worked for a month in the factory of Viceroy Rubber on Royce Avenue, which was later renamed Dupont Street. The next month he became a stock clerk at Warwick and Rutter, a stationery supply company. Bill left that job in October to be a stock clerk at Dominion Manufacturers, an undertakers' supply business that was among the industries on Niagara Street.

The frequent career changes indicate that Bill wasn't happy with his jobs. His home life was full, however. He skied, golfed, swam and played baseball, football and tennis. He still enjoyed sketching and art. He had a girlfriend, Doris Bennett, who shared his love of skiing whom he may have met when he worked at Viceroy Rubber.

Bill with girlfriend Doris Bennett. From The Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Bill looked older than his age and was repeatedly asked why he wasn't in uniform. He became fed up with the questions and enlisted in the RCAF in November 1941 when he was a month shy of his eighteenth birthday. He took the air force's pre-enlistment course in Hamilton, stating that he wanted to be a pilot and did not wish to return to his job after the war, hoping to find a job and go back to school at night.

On February 21, 1942 Bill reported to the Manning Depot at the Exhibition grounds where he took his basic training. The RCAF's medical staff had concerns about his ability to be a pilot, due to his admission that he had experienced motion sickness on streetcars when he was an adolescent. Like all Toronto area recruits, he transferred from the Exhibition grounds to the Initial Training School which was near Eglinton Avenue and Avenue Road. He spent six weeks from June 7 to the end of July in classrooms learning basic map reading, meteorology and taking aptitude tests to determine the most suitable air force career. It was clear by the end of the course that he was not destined to be a pilot. Many of the recruits who had pilot potential were sent to a flying school, but after a twenty-five day leave, Bill was sent to the Air Observer School in London, Ontario.

The London school trained future navigators. Eight weeks were spent at Air Observer School, then a month at Bombing and Gunnery School followed by another month at Navigation School, training in Avro Ansons. In total at the school, Bill spent 99 hours airborne. It was in London that he had his only lapse of discipline. On September 2, he broke out of the base at 1700 hrs and returned at 0115 hrs the next morning. He was caught and was confined to barracks for three days.

On December 4, Bill won his navigator's wing and was promoted to sergeant. The next day he started his embarkation leave, spending his birthday and Christmas with his family and Doris. Bill had an understanding with her that they would marry when he returned. He arrived in Halifax on December 28, sailing for Britain on January 4, 1943. He disembarked on January 12 and reported the next day at the Personnel Reception Centre in Bournemouth. He had leave from January 26 to 31 and then remained in Bournemouth for approximately a month longer than most airmen as the air force tried to find the best assignment for him. On March 26, he was attached to the 3rd Canadian Armoured Division. This was unusual and one can only presume what an air force navigator was doing to assist the army. He had another leave from May 9 to 15 and remained with the tanks for several more weeks.

Bill in Britain, 1943. Source: The Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

He was sent to No 10 Advanced Training School for Observers in Dumfries, Scotland, starting on June 10, to provide extra training beyond what Bill had learned in Canada. On July 13, he joined No. 12 Operational Training Unit at Chipping Warden, approximately sixty kilometres southeast of Birmingham. The unit trained night bombing crews on Wellingtons. The two-engine Wellington was the main long range night bomber of the Allied forces, eventually replaced by the four-engine Lancaster bomber. The crew was comprised of six men – the pilot, a wireless operator/air gunner, a rear gunner, a mid-upper gunner, a navigator and the bomb aimer.

Vickers Wellington bomber. From Wikipedia.

It was during the first few days at the unit that the crews assembled themselves, usually at a social event. Bill joined the crew of pilot Kevin Leslie Hart, a 22 year old Australian. The bomb aimer was another Canadian, LeRoy Sillito, a married 26 year old from Alberta who had two children and was expecting a third child in November. The rest of the crew were from the RAF: English wireless operator/air gunner William George Denyer, 20 years old; rear gunner Kenneth MacKenzie from northern Scotland and mid-upper gunner Ronald Cave, a 21 year old from Lancashire.

Sometime during his training, Bill became a member of the Caterpillar Club. A pin or card was presented to anyone who successfully bailed out of a disabled airplane using a parachute. He had a hospital stay as a result. Bill had been sending $40 a month home to his mother, but he was able to purchase a bicycle to get around the airfield and the nearby village. In the mess, he played darts and he played tunes on a harmonica.

While the pilots learned to master the controls of the Wellington, the rest of their crews took ground courses until their pilot was proficient to begin training with his crew. By September 21, pilot Kevin Hart had clocked 28.5 hours on the Wellington. That evening the crew was airborne at 1950 hrs to do a bullseye exercise, a simulation of a mission where a crew navigated to a target in Britain and experienced having to evade searchlights. That night the crew flew south to London, then onward to Rye on the south coast. They turned east along the coast to Romsey, near Southampton, and then made their way back north to the base. The flight went well until the Wellington was to land at Chipping Warden. Hart asked for a pancake landing, which is an emergency landing where an aircraft levels out close to the ground and drops vertically on its belly. Hart flew over the airfield at 150 feet and overshot the runway flares by a mile. He hit the ground flat but unfortunately the Wellington slid, smashing into a group of trees. The plane was badly broken and all aboard were killed. The crash report suggested that Hart had raised the flaps too soon.

Bill's funeral took place two days later, on September 25 at 11 am. He was buried in Banbury Cemetery along with crewmates LeRoy Sillito, Kevin Hart and Ronald Cave.

Jacob Gould passed away in 1961. Velma continued to live at 41 Maher Avenue until approximately 1977. In 1993 she passed away aged 100 in Oshawa. Sadly, she had outlived all of her children.