peration: San Giovanni (Villa San Giovanni), Italy

Date: 27th/28th June 1943 (Sunday/Monday)

Unit: No. 420 (Snowy Owl) Squadron RCAF, No. 331 (RCAF) Wing, No. 205 Group - Motto: "Pugnamus finitum" ("We fight to the finish")

Type: Wellington X

Serial: HE370

Code: PT-? (1)

Base: Zina (Kairouan West), Tunisia

Location: Not known - lost without trace

Pilot: F/O. Albert Charles Collins J/16769 RCAF Age 24 - Killed (2)

Nav: F/O. Kevin Davies Wilson J/10887 RCAF Age 25 - Killed

Air/Bmr: P/O. Thomas Ernest Jeffrey Tucker J/16947 RCAF Age 27 - Killed (3)

WOp/Air Gnr: P/O. Romeo Lionel Leroux J/17329 RCAF Age 28 - Killed

Air/Gnr: F/O. Leslie Charles Foster J/11615 RCAF Age 32 - Killed

(1) The individual aircraft letter carried by HE370 has not been found. Aircraft of 420 Squadron carried the code letters PT.

(2) Promoted to Flying Officer with effect from the 26th June 1943, the day before he was lost.

(3) Born Thomas Ernest Jeffrey Nye. He changed his name to Tucker by deed poll on the 14th August 1942.

REASON FOR LOSS:

In April 1943 the Air Ministry asked Canada for three bomber squadrons from No. 6 (RCAF) Group to serve in North Africa in support of the coming invasion of Sicily. Nos. 420, 424 and 425 Squadrons were selected and became No. 331 (RCAF) Wing, which formed on the 7th May 1943 under the command of G/Cpt. C.R. Dunlap.

420 Squadron left Middleton St. George in May 1943 and its tropicalised Wellington Xs were flown out to North Africa from Portreath in Cornwall. The squadron suffered losses before it had flown a single operation. On the 1st June 1943 Wellingtons HE568 and HE961 were intercepted and shot down over the Bay of Biscay by German fighters during the transit flight.

420 and 425 Squadrons, together with the Wing Headquarters, settled at Zina, a rough airstrip on a barren plain near Kairouan in Tunisia. The Wing was placed under the control of No. 205 Group RAF. The first operation was flown on the night of the 26th/27th June 1943, when five Wellingtons of 420 Squadron and ten of 425 Squadron attacked airfields around Sciacca in Sicily.

The following night, the 27th/28th June 1943, thirteen aircraft of 420 Squadron were detailed to attack the marshalling yards and train ferries at San Giovanni (Villa San Giovanni), on the toe of Italy opposite Messina. Wellington X HE370 took off from Zina at 22:23 hrs with F/O. Collins at the controls.

Some sixty aircraft from 231, 236, 330 and 331 Wings took part in the raid and about fifty tons of bombs were dropped, together with leaflets. The squadron records show that the target was lit by flares and that the crews bombed from between 7,500ft and 10,000ft at about 01:15 hrs in good visibility. Inaccurate flak, searchlights and a barrage of light flak were reported over the target, and a dummy fire was seen about three miles to the south-east. The attack was considered successful. One aircraft, HE370, failed to return.

On the 29th June 1943 the squadron sent a circumstantial report on the loss to the Base Personnel Officer. It recorded that the pilot had carried out fifteen (15) operational sorties and the navigator thirteen (13), and closed:

"The above aircrew took off on operations on the night of 27/28th June, 1943, and nothing has been heard from them since."

Above: The 420 Squadron circumstantial report on the loss of HE370, 29th June 1943. (LAC)

No trace of the aircraft or crew was ever found and the cause of the loss is not known. No German or Italian claim for the aircraft has been traced. After the war searcher parties of the RAF Missing Research and Enquiry Service searched the Messina area of Sicily without result, and on the 17th June 1947 the case was recommended for closure.

Above: Missing Research and Enquiry Service report on the search of the Messina area, 17th June 1947. (LAC)

The five men had been together for almost a year. All passed through No. 22 OTU at Wellesbourne Mountford in August 1942, were posted together to No. 426 (Thunderbird) Squadron at Dishforth on the 17th October 1942, and transferred together to 420 Squadron on the 23rd April 1943 when the squadron was preparing to leave for North Africa. Most of their operations had been flown with 426 Squadron.

BURIAL DETAILS:

Above: RCAF letter to F/O. Foster's father giving the names and next of kin of the crew, 15th July 1943. (LAC)

Malta Memorial. The memorial stands outside the City Gate of Valletta at Floriana, Malta. It commemorates almost 2,300 airmen of the Commonwealth air forces who lost their lives flying from bases in the Mediterranean, including Malta, Sicily, Italy and North Africa, and who have no known grave. It was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II on the 3rd May 1954.

Above L-R: F/O. Albert Collins, F/O. Kevin Wilson, P/O. Thomas Tucke, P/O. Romeo Leroux and  F/O. Leslie Foster

F/O. Albert Charles Collins. Malta Memorial, Panel 10, Column 1. Born on the 21st February 1919 in Charlottenburgh Township, Ontario. Enlisted at Ottawa on the 7th April 1941. Son of Thomas George Collins, born in London, England, and Henrietta Collins (née Lagden), born at Ingersoll, Ontario, of 540 Cumberland Street, Cornwall, Ontario. Husband of Dorothy Mabel Collins (née Fisher), of 712 Sydney Street, Cornwall, whom he married at Cornwall on the 7th December 1941.

F/O. Kevin Davies Wilson. Malta Memorial, Panel 10, Column 1. Born on the 10th August 1917 at Limerick, Saskatchewan. Enlisted at Regina on the 25th February 1941. Son of Charles Wilson, born in Ireland, and Florence Almeda Wilson (née Sproule), born at Springhill, Nova Scotia, of Limerick, Saskatchewan. Husband of Olive Ernestine Wilson (née Keating), of Limerick, whom he married at St. Chad's College Chapel, Regina, on the 3rd October 1941.

P/O. Thomas Ernest Jeffrey Tucker. Malta Memorial, Panel 10, Column 2. Born Thomas Ernest Jeffrey Nye on the 7th February 1916 at Brixton, London. Enlisted at Toronto on the 8th January 1941. Son of Albert Victor Nye and Ethel Nye, who both died in 1918. He was brought up by his aunt, Florence Isobel Tucker, and her husband Charles William Arthur Tucker, of 22 Bath Road, Keynsham, Somerset, later of 21 Stanley Park Road, Wallington, Surrey, and took their surname by deed poll in August 1942.

P/O. Romeo Lionel Leroux. Malta Memorial, Panel 10, Column 2. Born on the 27th April 1915 at Lafontaine, Ontario. Enlisted at Toronto on the 14th March 1941. Son of Joseph Leroux, a carpenter, and Anna Marion Leroux (née Marion), of 76 Poyntz Street, Penetanguishene, Ontario. He was known to his family and friends as Lionel.

F/O. Leslie Charles Foster. Malta Memorial, Panel 10, Column 1. Born on the 13th September 1910 at Ashley Road, Boarhunt, Hampshire, England. Enlisted at Regina on the 12th May 1941. Son of George Foster and Malvina Martha Foster (née Small). His parents were separated; his father, a farmer, lived at Southey, Saskatchewan, and his mother at 1 Park View, Wintershill, Durley, Hampshire.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon

Dedicated to the relatives of this crew. We seek additional information and photographs of the crew - please contact us.

SOURCES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

• Library and Archives Canada - Service Files of the Second World War - War Dead: Collins A.C. J16769, Wilson K.D. J10887, Tucker T.E.J. J16947, Leroux R.L. J17329, Foster L.C. J11615
• The National Archives, Kew - AIR 27/1825 No. 420 Squadron Operations Record Book
• RCAF 420 Snowy Owl Squadron tribute site - North Africa May to October 1943 (squadron records)
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• Veterans Affairs Canada - Canadian Virtual War Memorial
• Directorate of History and Heritage - 'The Crucible of War 1939-1945', Official History of the RCAF Vol. III
• Bomber Command Museum of Canada - 331 Wing RCAF in North Africa
• CASPIR - Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
• Roll of Honour - Malta Memorial (Martin Edwards)
• Aircrew Remembered Archives

SUPPLEMENT:

Corrections made to the report:

• Date of loss. The loss was queried as the 27th July 1943. Every official record gives the night of the 27th/28th June 1943: the squadron circumstantial report of the 29th June 1943, the RCAF casualty notifications, the certificates of presumption of death and the CWGC. The date 26th July 1943 appears on the ministerial cards in four of the files; this is the date the cards were issued, not the date of loss. Source: LAC service files.
• Time of departure. The squadron records as transcribed give about 22:28 hrs. The circumstantial report of the 29th June 1943 and the MRES report of the 17th June 1947 both give 22:23 hrs, which is used in the report.
• Crew positions. The Malta Memorial roll of honour (roll-of-honour.com) describes P/O. Tucker as the pilot. The circumstantial report and the MRES report both show F/O. Collins as pilot and P/O. Tucker as air bomber. Tucker trained as an observer (Navigator "B").
• Ages. The CWGC gives Wilson as 26, Leroux as 27 and Foster as 33. Calculated from the dates of birth in their service files they were 25, 28 and 32. The correct ages are used in the report.
• Ranks. Collins appears as P/O. in the squadron records. He was promoted Flying Officer with effect from the 26th June 1943 (letter to his father of the 11th February 1944) and is shown as F/O.

Other discrepancies in the records:

• The CWGC shows Wilson and Foster as 426 Squadron and gives no squadron for Collins. All three had transferred to 420 Squadron on the 23rd April 1943.
• The CWGC gives Collins's mother as "Hewietta". The service file gives Henrietta (née Lagden); she signed as Mrs. T.G. Collins.
• The CWGC gives Foster's parents as Mr. and Mrs. George Foster, of New Westminster, British Columbia. This appears to be a later address. In 1943 his father was at Southey, Saskatchewan, and his mother in Hampshire.
• Tucker's father is named Albert Victor Nye (died 18th April 1918) in a statement made by C.W.A. Tucker in April 1944, but Herbert Nye on his attestation paper and his Ontario death registration. His mother Ethel Nye died on the 17th November 1918.
• Collins's birthplace is given as Charlottenburgh Township on his attestation paper and as Avonmore, Ontario, on the estates form.
• Leroux's family address is given variously as 76 and 81 Pointz (Poyntz) Street, Penetanguishene. The RCAF letter of the 11th September 1952 was addressed to 61 Poyntz Street.
• The Canadian Virtual War Memorial entry for Wilson states that he is also commemorated at Runnymede. The CWGC commemorates him only on the Malta Memorial.

Further details of the loss:

On the 28th June 1943 the Commanding Officer of 420 Squadron, W/Cdr. D. McIntosh, wrote to Wilson's wife:

"On the night of 27/28th June, 1943, he and his crew took off on operations and nothing has been heard of them since."

He added that there was always the possibility that her husband might be a prisoner of war.

On the 15th July 1943 the RCAF Casualties Officer in Ottawa wrote to Foster's father confirming that his son was missing, and listed the other four members of the crew with their next of kin so that the families could contact one another. Collins's father later wrote that the family had been in touch with relatives of the crew but had heard nothing from any of them for some time.

On the 2nd February 1944 Thomas George Collins wrote to Ottawa asking whether the aircraft or any member of the crew had ever been located. The reply of the 11th February 1944 stated that no further information had been received about his son or the other members of the crew "since he was reported missing after a bombing raid over San Giovanna, Italy", and that efforts were continuing through the International Red Cross at Geneva.

All five men were presumed dead for official purposes in March and April 1944 (Collins certificate no. 7157 and Foster no. 7148, 14th March 1944; Leroux no. 7472, 13th April 1944).

Above: RCAF Casualty Notification for P/O. Tucker - "Presumed Dead" for official purposes, 14th March 1944. (LAC)

On the 17th June 1947 the Headquarters of the Missing Research and Enquiry Service, Central Mediterranean Forces, reported to the Air Ministry under reference J.16769/Collins:

"Our Searcher Party Officers have made a search of the Messina area, Sicily, and have found no information..."

The report repeats that HE370 took off at 22:23 hrs on the 27th June 1943 to attack San Giovanni (map reference 4359, Sheet 254, Italy 1/100,000), and asks for authority to close the case. On the 11th September 1952 the RCAF Casualties Officer, W/Cdr. W.R. Gunn, wrote to the families that it must be accepted that the men had no known grave and that their names would appear on the memorial to be erected at Malta.

Charles Wilson replied on the 18th September 1952:

"...our son is a fresh and fragrant memory in our home, and few days indeed pass without mention of him."

Above: Letter from F/O. Wilson's father to the RCAF Casualties Officer, 18th September 1952. (LAC)

The crew - postings:

	22 OTU	426 Sqn	420 Sqn	Overseas
F/O. Collins (Pilot)	04.08.1942	17.10.1942	23.04.1943	01.06.1943
F/O. Wilson (Nav)	04.08.1942	17.10.1942	23.04.1943	01.06.1943
P/O. Tucker (Air/Bmr)	04.08.1942	17.10.1942	23.04.1943	01.06.1943
P/O. Leroux (WOp/Air Gnr)	18.08.1942	17.10.1942	23.04.1943	01.06.1943
F/O. Foster (Air/Gnr)	August 1942	17.10.1942	23.04.1943	01.06.1943

Further details of the crew:

F/O. Albert Charles Collins was educated at Cornwall Collegiate and Vocational School from 1932 to 1936 and took two years of machine shop practice and welding at night school. He worked as a clerk at Fawthrop's grocery in Cornwall and from 1937 as a paper finisher at the Howard Smith Paper Mills. He served as a private in the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders (NPAM) from the 10th August 1940 before enlisting in the RCAF. He was 5ft 10in tall with blue eyes and brown hair, and played hockey and softball.

He trained at No. 3 ITS Victoriaville, No. 11 EFTS and No. 8 SFTS Moncton, where he was awarded his pilot's badge on the 3rd December 1941. He arrived in the UK in March 1942 and went to No. 4 (P) AFU, 22 OTU and 426 Squadron. He was commissioned on the 26th December 1942 and attended No. 1535 Beam Approach Training Flight from the 3rd to the 9th April 1943. His conduct sheet records five days' absence without leave at No. 1 "Y" Depot, Halifax, in February 1942, for which he was severely reprimanded, and in September 1942, while at Atherstone-on-Stour, he was summonsed at Stratford-upon-Avon for riding a bicycle at night without lights.

His will of April 1941 in favour of his mother was revoked by his marriage. His widow believed he had made a new will at Halifax in December 1941, but it was never found and his estate passed to her under the law of intestacy.

F/O. Kevin Davies Wilson was educated at Limerick, at Collège Mathieu, Gravelbourg, and at the University of Ottawa, and attended Success Business College, Regina. He worked for Wilson Bros. at Limerick from 1933, latterly as acting manager, and later as acting provincial manager for the Victoria Trust and Savings Company. He spoke English and French. His application was supported by letters from the Premier of Saskatchewan, W.J. Patterson, and the Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, J.T. Brown.

He was accepted for pilot training but ceased training at No. 15 EFTS Regina after 13:25 hrs without going solo. The medical officer recorded that he appeared to have been "a victim of circumstances". He retrained as an observer at No. 3 AOS Regina (2nd of 23), No. 2 B&GS Mossbank and No. 1 ANS Rivers (3rd of 21), where his instructor wrote: "Good navigator - thinks things out for himself." He was awarded his observer's badge on the 28th February 1942 and commissioned on the 4th April 1942. He arrived in the UK on the 12th May 1942. His widow later remarried and lived at Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, as Mrs. Olive E. Lindsay.

P/O. Thomas Ernest Jeffrey Tucker lost both parents in 1918 and was brought up by his aunt and her husband, C.W.A. Tucker, who worked at the Admiralty. He lived in London and briefly in Fife before going to grammar school at Streatham from 1923 to 1930. He went to Canada in 1930 and farmed near Sunderland, Ontario, before joining Webster Bros., wholesale tobacco and confectionery merchants of Fenelon Falls, as a bookkeeper and salesman. He served with the 45th Field Battery RCA (NPAM) at Windsor, Ontario, in 1940.

He trained as an observer at No. 7 AOS Portage la Prairie, No. 3 B&GS Macdonald ("A good bomb aimer") and No. 1 ANS Rivers, and was awarded his observer's badge on the 13th February 1942. He arrived in the UK on the 12th May 1942 and was commissioned on the 2nd February 1943. His operational wings were sent to his aunt in August 1946.

P/O. Romeo Lionel Leroux was French Canadian and a Roman Catholic. He left school in Penetanguishene after Grade X and attended welding school. He worked as a chauffeur and mechanic for Harry Watson, then at Cage's Garage (Cage Auto Service) and B.L. Stamp's garage. Alfred Cage described him as a very honest, diligent and willing worker. He was a keen hockey player and swimmer.

He trained as a wireless operator/air gunner at No. 4 Wireless School, Guelph, and No. 9 B&GS Mont-Joli, and was awarded his air gunner's badge on the 11th May 1942. He arrived in the UK on the 11th June 1942 and was commissioned on the 18th March 1943. On embarkation he named Miss June Appleyard, of the Gladstone Apartments, 627 Main Street East, Hamilton, Ontario, as the alternative person to be informed in case of casualty.

F/O. Leslie Charles Foster came to Canada with his family in 1919 and attended Snowdrop Public School, Saskatchewan. He worked on farms at Southey and Raymore, latterly as a tractor operator at Sedley, and held a diesel engineering certificate from the Hemphill Engineering School. He played hockey, football and baseball, and his hobby was photography. His interviewing officer described him as tall, healthy and rugged, confident, mature and pleasant.

He trained as a wireless operator/air gunner at No. 4 Wireless School, Guelph, and No. 6 B&GS Mountain View, where he passed out first of thirty-five (35). He was commissioned on the 11th May 1942, arrived in the UK on the 5th June 1942 and was promoted Flying Officer on the 11th November 1942. His father, George Foster, had served overseas as RSM of the Saskatoon Light Infantry (MG). His aunts at Southey, Mrs. Mollie Hillier and Mrs. Harriet Moore, had helped to raise him.

Memorials to the crew:

• Malta Memorial - all five crew. Collins, Wilson and Foster on Panel 10, Column 1; Tucker and Leroux on Panel 10, Column 2.
• Books of Remembrance, Peace Tower, Ottawa - Second World War Book: Collins page 147, Foster page 160, Wilson page 227. The pages for Tucker and Leroux have not yet been confirmed.
• Bomber Command Memorial Wall, Nanton, Alberta - Collins and Wilson (photographs on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial).
• Wilson Lake, Saskatchewan - named after F/O. Wilson under the Saskatchewan Geo-Memorial programme. His parents attended the unveiling of the Malta Memorial in 1954.
• Cornwall Cenotaph, Legion Memorial Park, Cornwall, Ontario - "COLLINS, ALBERT C."
• Trinity Anglican Church Second World War Honour Roll, Cornwall, Ontario - "Albert Collins +". His father was janitor of Trinity Memorial Church.
• Memorial Park Cenotaph, Penetanguishene, Ontario - "LIONEL LEROUX". Erected in 1949 by the Women's Institute at the corner of Poyntz and Main Streets, close to the family home.
• Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 350 Roll of Honour, Southey, Saskatchewan - "Leslie Foster". The names of Herbert and Richard Hillier also appear; whether they were related to his aunt, Mrs. F.S. (Mollie) Hillier, has not been established.
• Squadron memorials - 420 Squadron is commemorated on the memorial stone outside the former St. George Hotel, Teesside Airport (RAF Middleton St. George), and at Tholthorpe, North Yorkshire.
• Not yet found: Tucker on the memorials at Keynsham, Wallington or Fenelon Falls; Foster on the Durley memorials, Hampshire; Wilson on the Limerick Cenotaph (no names are listed online).

Supplement Sources:

• Library and Archives Canada - service files of Collins, Wilson, Tucker, Leroux and Foster
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission - casualty records
• Veterans Affairs Canada - Canadian Virtual War Memorial and Books of Remembrance
• Veterans Affairs Canada - National Inventory of Canadian Military Memorials: Cornwall Cenotaph; Trinity Anglican Church Honour Roll, Cornwall; Memorial Park Cenotaph, Penetanguishene; RCL Branch 350 Roll of Honour, Southey; Limerick Cenotaph
• Roll of Honour - Malta Memorial and Durley War Memorials
• International Bomber Command Centre - Losses Database (420 Squadron memorials)
• CASPIR - Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum (HE568, HE961)