World War Two collections | Canadian Letters

Title

WWII

These collections contains all materials relating to Canadian from 1939 to 1945. Some individual collections may contain materials beyond this time frame. External links in collection descriptions are to casualty and burial information at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Watson, James Francis

James Francis Watson was born in June, 1924. He enlisted in November, 1942 in Fort William, Ontario. Watson served with the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada, R.C.I.C. until his death in France on August 4, 1944. The collection currently consists of sixteen letters, clippings, and several photographs.

External links:
Lance Corporal James Francis Watson’s service record (Serv/Reg# H195561) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Watson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Watson, William Douglas

William Douglas Watson was born in 1924 and resided in Grand Valley, Ontario. He enlisted in the R.C.A.F. in 1943 and graduated as a Navigator in December, 1943. He was killed on July 23, 1944 along with all of his crew while practicing night flying in a Wellington bomber over Cardigan Bay in Wales. The collection consists of twenty seven letters written home to his parents in 1944.

External links:
Flying Officer William Douglas Watson’s service record (Serv/Reg# J39281) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Watson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Wilson, Thomas Orval

Thomas Orval Wilson was born in Craik, Saskatchewan in 1923 and raised in Regina, one of a family of eight brothers. He enlisted with the R.C.A.F. in 1941, training in Canada before being posted overseas in 1943. Warrant Officer Thomas Orval Wilson was shot down and killed on his first mission, February 20, 1944. The collection consists of more than forty letters, as well as numerous photographs and miscellaneous documents.

External links:
Warrant Officer Thomas Orval Wilson’s service record (Serv/Reg# R155694) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Wilson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Winfield, Stanley H.

Stanley Winfield was a member of the Allied Control Commission (Disarmament) assigned to Germany in the late spring of 1945. The collection consists of the notes for the training course for personnel assigned to the Commission, as well as a short memoir written in the summer of 1945 while in Germany detailing his experiences as part of the Commission.

Witt, Ernest Maurice

Pilot Officer Ernest Maurice Witt was born in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, on October 22, 1909, to parents William Ernest Witt and Helen Maria McKenzie Witt (née Ellis). A graduate of the University of Manitoba, Witt studied education at the University of British Columbia. He worked as a high school teacher in Lake Cowichan. Married in 1938 to Helen May Newton, they had one child, Ernest Brian Witt, born in November 1940.

Witt enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force in August 1941 in Vancouver, B.C. Trained first as a navigator and then bomb aimer, Witt spent several months in late 1942 with R.C.A.F. No. 428 Squadron, before joining R.C.A.F. No. 405, in January 1943.

On July 14, 1943, Witt was flying a night mission to Aachen, Germany, when his Halifax II aircraft HR905 went missing. It was later determined that he had been killed when his plane crashed at Asten, Holland. Witt was buried in the Jonkerbos War Cemetery, Nijmegen, Netherlands.

Also killed were R.C.A.F. No. 405 Sqdn. members: F/L Roy Gordon Morrison, DFC; F/O George Glover McGladrey, DFC; P/O Thomas Henry Navin Emerson, DFM; and F/S Douglas Glenn Bebensee, DFM, as well as Royal Air Force member S/L Denzil Lloyd.Wolfe (Wolfe was Canadian but enlisted in England with the R.A.F.). Two other crew members, R.C.A.F. F/L D.M. Clarke, and R.A.F. F/L D.J. Smith (New Zealand) survived and were taken prisoner.

Collection contents:
The collection’s letters were written by Witt to his wife and parents between February and June 1943.

External links:
P/O Ernest Maurice Witt’s service record (Serv/Reg# J17710) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Witt can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Links to records of aircrew killed with Witt on July 14, 1943:
     R.C.A.F. F/S Douglas Glenn Bebensee, DFM, service record (Serv/Reg# R68061)
     R.C.A.F. P/O Thomas Henry Navin Emerson, DFM, service record (Serv/Reg# J18062)
     R.C.A.F. F/O George Glover McGladrey, DFC, service record (Serv/Reg# J6843)
     R.C.A.F. F/L Roy Gordon Morrison, DFC, service record (Serv/Reg# J9764)
     R.A.F. S/L Denzil Lloyd Wolfe, DFC, (Serv/Reg# 39805) burial information at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and memorial page at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Wright, Joseph Thomas

Joseph Thomas Wright was born in Toronto in 1907. He served overseas in Africa and Europe during the war and then returned to Canada at the end of the war. The collection consists of one letter written to his sister Bea from Italy in September, 1944.