Gordon Fletcher Harrison

Gordon's father David Harrison was born in 1890 in Montreal. He was a pressman in various printing plants after he moved to Toronto in approximately 1911. In November 1914, when the First World War was three months old, he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, in the 4th Canadian Mounted Regiment. He served in France, suffering several injuries, mostly minor. He married a French woman, but after his discharge in 1919, he stopped his benefits to the woman and she was living in Newark, New Jersey by the end of the year. Presumably a divorce took place.

After his discharge, David settled down with Hazel Lennon who was born in Dundalk, Ontario. Gordon was born on September 28, 1920. Four sisters followed: Alberta, Alfreda (born 1922), Gladys (born 1924) and Dolly. The family wasn't listed in the Toronto City Directory until 1931, when they were living on Scarlett Road, most likely north of Eglinton Avenue. David worked downtown, at Church and Gerrard Streets as a pressman for the Monetary Times Printing Company. In 1934 the family was living on Main Street South in Weston. Gordon went to Bala Public School (upon whose memorial he is commemorated) and transferred to Strathcona in June 1935 when the Harrisons moved to 536 Runnymede Road.

Gordon attended Strathcona school for Grade 8, graduating in 1936. He continued to Western Tech and joined the Industrial program for Grade 9. His two years were at Western's night school, studying Printing, Typewriting and English. He left school in 1939. He had a mechanical mind and was interested in how cars worked. He also liked to swim, ski and skate and he enjoyed driving.

In January 1940 he found work at a garage on Lakeshore Road in Mimico. He was a service attendant and apprentice mechanic. He also obtained a chauffeur's licence. Gordon left the garage by May 1941 to work in the mill room of Gutta Percha Rubber Manufacturing in Parkdale. After a month there he enlisted in the RCAF. At this time his family was living at 476 Clendenan Avenue, along with his mother's brother. Unlike most RCAF candidates, Gordon had no interest in flying duties. He applied for ground duties instead, and hoped to find a career in printing after the war.

By July 4, Gordon was in Penhold, Alberta to begin his basic training. As he wasn't pursuing a flying career, he was immediately assigned to the No. 5 Bombing and Gunnery School (B&GS) in Dafoe, Saskatchewan where he learned the maintenance of the aircraft used at the base – Westland Lysanders, Bristol Bolingbrokes, Avro Ansons and Fairey Battles. He had two two week leaves in January and May 1942. At the beginning of his first leave in January, he was promoted to Leading Aircraftman. He was transferred to the new 133 Squadron in Lethbridge, Alberta on June 11. The squadron had been formed on June 8 and was taking delivery of Hawker Hurricanes that were built in Fort William, Ontario to fly air defence of Western Canada. Also in Lethbridge was the No. 8 Bombing and Gunnery School and Gordon appears to have been attached to both units. Squadron 133 moved to Boundary Bay, British Columbia, 40 kilometres south of Vancouver to provided coastal patrols and Gordon moved with them for a short period.

In September Gordon decided to apply to be an air gunner on a flying crew and began training at No. 3 B&GS at Macdonald, Manitoba on October 25. The base was near Portage la Prairie and flew the same planes that Gordon had maintained at the B&GS in Dafoe. British, Australians and New Zealanders trained along with Canadians as part of the Commonweath Air Training Plan. Here Gordon was instructed in bomb aiming and aerial machine gunnery. The airborne training took place over Lake Manitoba and Gordon mainly flew in Fairey Battles.

On December 10 Gordon failed the course, but was given the opportunity to take the course again. He finally graduated with his Air Gunner's badge and was promoted to Sergeant on February 5, 1943. He came home to Toronto for a two week leave and then reported for duty at No. 34 Operational Training Unit (OTU), located at Pennfield Ridge near the south coast of New Brunswick. Normally an RCAF airman was sent to Britain to train at an OTU, where he would learn the aircraft he would be fighting in. However, Canada had seven OTUs and a minority of Canadian airmen served there.

Lockheed Ventura. Imperial War Museum photo.

RCAF Pennfield Ridge trained crews on Lockheed Venturas. The Ventura was a medium daylight bomber and the RCAF was using them for training and for home defence, patrolling the coast for enemy ships and submarines. These Venturas had a crew of four and it was at Pennfield Ridge that Gordon probably joined the crew he would fly with. His pilot was from New Zealand - Henare Whakatau Uru Jr., the son of a Maori politician and an Australian mother. Uru Jr's sister would be the first Maori presenter on New Zealand television. Gordon later flew with Australian air bomber Leonard Allan Eunson and navigator Robert Jack Braddock, also from New Zealand, and it can be assumed that the crew was formed at Pennfield Ridge. On finishing the course on April 8, 1943, Gordon had a two week embarkation leave in Toronto prior to shipping out of Halifax with his crew on May 16.

Henare Whakatau Uru Jr. RNZAF, Gordon's pilot. From www.aucklandmuseum.com.

Upon arriving in Britain on May 24, they reported to the Personnel Reception Centre in Bournemouth and awaited their assignment, taking a short leave from June 6 to 10. It wasn't until June 22 that they shipped to No. 13 OTU in Bicester, approximately 10 kilometres northeast of Oxford. By this point, RAF Bomber Command knew that the Ventura wasn't effective against enemy attacks and began phasing it out. Gordon and his crew remained in Bicester for a few weeks and transferred to RAF Silverstone along with several other Ventura crews. On August 18 they were granted a three week leave which was slowly extended to October 18. Clearly the air force wasn't sure what to do with the crews. They arrived at 297 Squadron at RAF Stoney Cross west of Southampton. The squadron was practicing parachute drops with the 8th Battalion.

The RAF, in anticipation of the invasion of Europe, formed No. 299 Squadron on November 4, consisting of 42 air crews and 200 ground crew from 297 Squadron. It was a special operations squadron using the Ventura for towing gliders and dropping paratroops. A month later the decision was made to convert the squadron to Short Stirling bombers and at the end of December Gordon and his crew moved to RAF Tilstock to learn to fly on Stirlings. The four-engine Short Stirling was a much larger aircraft than the Ventura, and more complex. The first two weeks were at ground school to learn about the Stirling’s fuel, pneumatic, electrical and hydraulic systems. Also practised during those first weeks were emergency drills with the associated equipment. The first 15 hours of flying training were devoted to day circuits for pilot conversion; half dual and half solo, without crew. During this time, the only other crew member who could gain any practice at his trade was the wireless operator. Gordon was the rear gunner in the tail of the plane.

From www.airvectors.net.

They returned to their squadron on February 12 and began training. The squadron's summary log for the period lists the training syllabus of five parts. 1) 3.5 hour day and night cross country flights. 2) 4.5 to 5 hour day and night cross country flights, with runs up on two drop zones. 3) 2 hour low level cross country flights to be carried out between 500 and 1000 feet. 4) 3 hour daylight map reading practice with runs up on six drop zones. 5) 3.5 hour night map reading exercises, with runs up on three drop zones, to be carried out on moonlight nights. The airmen were learning to tow gliders and drop containers.

The squadron moved to RAF Keevil on March 1. The airfield is still in use, 18 kilometres south-east of Bath. On March 11, Gordon and his crew were sent with five other crews for an exercise at RAF Hurn, near the south coast in Dorset. In April the squadron participated in paratroop exercises with the top secret Special Operations Executive (SOE), an espionage organization within the British forces. Preparations were taking place all over Britain in anticipation of D-Day in June.

Gordon's crew took part in an SOE mission on April 28/29 which was unsuccessful due to the weather. They had to fly through a weather front. With the winds, bad visibility and no moon to guide them, they returned to England. The crew was now six men. Pilot Uru along with navigator Braddock and bomber Eunson also had wireless operator/air gunner P. Taylor and English flight engineer Alfred Anthony Hall. They took off at 2230 hrs and returned at 0440 hrs, most likely flying to France. Their next SOE mission on May 7 was also not successful in dropping spies over France.

They had their last leave before D-Day from May 13 to 19. On June 2, there were orders that no leave was to be allowed and anyone trying to leave the base would be shot. On June 5 at 1400 hrs a final briefing took place, followed by a speech by Air Vice Marshall Leslie Hollinghurst who, according to the squadron summary, “affirmed his confidence in the ability of the crews to carry out their task to the letter. The intention of the operation was to drop the 6th Airborne Division on (the drop zone) 'H,' a space of approximately 2.5 square miles on the Eastern side of the River Orme, running from Quistreham to Caen by night.” The paratroops were to hold two bridges which the Germans had wired with explosives and the paratroops were to prevent their destruction. If the bridges were blown, the whole British army would be cut off from the other Allied forces.

The squadron summary describes “the scenes around the aircraft before take-off on this first operation of the Second Front are memorable; the aircraft totalling forty six Stirlings from the Station were lined up in sequence at the end of the runway and the troops were busily engaged in fitting their parachutes, helped by willing ground crews. One will never forget the tremendous spirit and enthusiasm of these troops of the 12th Battalion, 6th Airborne Division, who were obviously just aching to 'have a go' at the Hun.”

Short Stirlings of Nos. 196 and 299 Squadrons RAF lining the runway at RAF Keevil on the evening of 5 June 1944 before emplaning paratroops of the 5th Parachute Brigade Group for the invasion of Normandy. Imperial War Museum photo.

Gordon's Stirling took off at 2357 hrs with 17 troops and 9 containers which were successfully dropped. The aircraft was damaged by light flak and wireless operator Taylor was injured. He also manned the upper middle gun of the plane. They landed in England at 0315 hrs. Taylor was permanently replaced by Walter Nelson Irving, a 25 year old Canadian from New Westminster, British Columbia. He was married and a father of a two year old son. The crew's next mission was on June 12 to drop 15 troops and 14 containers over Brittany. On June 23 they were sent on a resupply mission. Anti-aircraft balloons were flying at 3000 feet, but they flew successfully between the cables. In July they returned to SOE operations, flying on July 6 and 11. The first mission was a success, but on the second one they had to turn back when there were no reception lights seen.

The crew had leave from July 20 to 26 and returned to SOE operations on July 29. On August 2 they flew a successful operation for the Special Air Service (SAS) in France and landed back at an airfield in Cornwall. On August 5, the crew and two other Stirlings set off for France to drop containers to the French SAS and the Resistance over the Baden area of France near the south coast of Brittany. The American army was about to launch a battle through Brittany to her ports, known as the Battle for Brest. Gordon's Stirling took off at 2300 hrs, followed by the two other planes at 2238 hrs and 2244 hrs. Once they crossed the French coast, they dropped to 5000 to 6000 feet, then to 2000 feet which was map reading height. They were to drop their load from 500 feet. When Pilot Uru arrived over the drop zone, no rendezvous lights were detected. They circled and the other two Stirlings arrived. Both of those pilots witnessed Gordon's plane hit by anti-aircraft fire at about 500 feet. The plane crashed at 0045 hrs into several buildings in the village of Plougoumelen, killing three civilians and all aboard the Stirling. The plane missed hitting the village's square and church by 25 metres. Uru was 23 years old, Hull was 20, Braddock was 26, Eunson and Gordon were 24 years old. Gordon had been promoted to Warrent Officer 2nd Class in February and upon his death was promoted to Warrant Officer.

Their bodies were removed from the wreckage but could not be identified. The men were buried in a communal grave in Plougoumelen's cemetery. More than one thousand people attended the funeral and the graves were covered with flowers and wreaths. There is a road leading into Plougoumelen named Rue du Cinq Août 1944.

The graves of the crew of Gordon's Stirling, Plougoumelen, France. Credit: Jane Full from www.ww2cemeteries.com.

Gordon's gravestone, Plougoumelen, France. Credit: Jane Full from www.ww2cemeteries.com.

Memorial plaque, Plougoumelen, France. From www.aircrewremembered.com

Gordon's parents were living apart at the time of his death. Hazel was using her maiden name and resided on Huron Street. David lived on Jarvis Street in 1944 and in downtown Toronto until at least the mid-1950s.