James McGee

(Not mentioned on Norway's Roll of Honour, but is listed on Lansdowne's.)

Jim (or Jimmie) McGee was born March 6, 1923 in Toronto. His father, also called James, was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1898 and the family immigrated to Toronto after World War I. In Port Credit on September 16, 1920 James Sr married a Toronto girl, Ivy Brown (b. 1896). Ivy's parents were born in Glasgow and she was a single mother to a 4 year old boy named Harold. She was working as a telephone operator. The next year James and Ivy had a son who died in infancy. Ultimately, they had two girls, Jean (b. 1924) and Agnes (b. 1929) and another son, Roderick (b. 1926). James Sr worked as a clerk at Eaton's department store, but by 1927, he had become an electrician. The family hopped about a lot, not renting for more than a couple of years at any one house. Occasionally they would move back into the McGee family's home at 23 Division Street, a street that no longer exists. It was located on what is now CAMH's campus near Spadina and College.

Jim attended Norway for Kindergarten and Grade 1, from 1929 to 1931. The McGees lived at 213 Kingston Road, across from the cemetery, and at 36 Dixon Avenue. They moved to 84 Redwood Avenue and Jim transferred to Roden School, where he remained until Grade 6. His family moved back to 23 Division Street and he completed elementary school at Lansdowne. He started at Central Tech in 1939, taking the aircraft mechanics' course. Hockey, baseball, swimming and rugby were Jim's favourite sports to play. He left school in 1941 and found a job as a stock keeper at Eaton's.

Jim always wanted to fly and he wanted to follow in his father's military footsteps. James Sr was a Lieutenant in the RAF in World War I. On August 4, 1941, Jim tried to enlist in the RCAF. Jim's mother Ivy was not pleased with this decision and if her permission was required to join the forces, she wasn't about to give it. In his evenings and days off, Jim spent four months in the War Emergency Training Program, which trained civilians and those in the forces in technical skills like machine fitting.

Jim finally enlisted a year later, on September 21, 1942. He stated that he did not wish to return to his job after the war and had a desire to get into advertising. He did his basic training in Toronto and Hamilton, and was sent to the Wireless Training school in Guelph in January 1943. He did further training in Ottawa and then in Regina. By July he was back in Ontario, at Trenton's Air Gunners Ground Training School. A month later he was posted to the Bombing and Gunnery School in Macdonald, Manitoba, finally receiving his Air Gunner's badge on October 1, 1943.

Every man was given two weeks' embarkation leave, so Jim returned home to see his family. He shipped out of Halifax on October 22. After two weeks waiting for his assignment, he was sent to No. 19 Operational Training Unit at RAF Kinloss in northeast Scotland. Until the end of March 1944 he trained on Whitley bombers to be a rear gunner. He attended further air gunner training and joined the RAF's No. 78 Squadron in Yorkshire, becoming a rear gunner in Halifax bombers.

Jim, likely during training in Canada, 1943. From The Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Jim, likely in England, 1944. From The Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Jim's crew was international. Pilot Richard Clarke was a 26 year old Irishman. There were three Australians: Bomb Aimer Joseph Webb, 24, Wireless Operator Robert Norsworthy, 21 and Gunner Thomas Craddock, 25. The other Canadian on the crew was the 21 year old wireless operator, Donald Currie from Owen Sound, Ontario. They flew at least two successful bombing missions in late October and early November, over Cologne and Dusseldorf. On November 6 they were posted to the RAF's No. 35 Squadron at RAF Graveley about 10 kilometres northwest of Cambridge, which was flying Lancaster bombers. The crew added an English Flight Engineer, John Mays. The squadron was part of the Pathfinder Force and the planes didn't usually carry bombs, but instead had flares which were dropped over targets so the following bombers had something to aim at.

Lancaster bomber. Jim would have sat in the rear bubble. RCAF photo.

Jim's crew didn't become operational until December 12 as they were practising on a Lancaster. Over the next week and a half, they carried out three missions over Germany. On December 23, their fourth mission, ten Lancasters from the squadron were sent on a daylight sortie to bomb the Gremburg railway yards near Cologne. Jim's plane took off at 1040 hrs, flying in formation. At 1133 hrs, when the group were over the English Channel, about 10 miles off of Dover, Jim's plane collided with one of the other squadron aircraft at 10000 feet. Ten parachutes from the two Lancasters were seen to deploy and the rescue ships were radioed. Only the bodies of three of Jim's crew mates were found.

It was never determined whether the Lancaster that Jim was on was above or below the other plane. The other plane had experienced intercom trouble prior to take off, which possibly left the crew unable to alert the other plane or to be alerted. Jim's Lancaster had had aileron and elevator troubles in the past, so if it had been above the other plane, that may have been the cause. A third possibility was turbulence which sent the upper plane into the lower one.

Jim is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial in England and on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, Alberta.