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In memory of:

Flight Lieutenant Leslie Rowland Bond Loving

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Citation(s);

Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)

Military service

Service number: J/16130
Age: 23
Rank: Flight Lieutenant
Force: Air Force
Unit/Regiment: Royal Canadian Air Force
Division: 424 Sqdn.
Birth: February 10, 1921 Regina, Saskatchewan
Enlistment: September 7, 1939 Regina, Saskatchewan
Death: November 5, 1944 Bouchum, Germany

Burial/memorial information

RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL
Grave reference: Panel 244.
Additional information
Son of Henry John and Ethel Lilian Simpkin Loving of Mission, British Columbia. Husband of Georgina Milburn Cretney Loving of Regina, Saskatchewan. Brother of Gweneth Lilian and Ethel Marianne. Nephew of Mr. C. Bond and Arthur Walker of England.
Additional citations

One night in September 1942, Pilot Officer Loving was detailed for a low level attack on the submarine base building yard near Bremen. In a determined effort to locate and bomb the target, which was obscured by a heavy cloud, he descended to a height of only eight hundred feet. He was immediately engaged by searchlights and the ground defences. His aircraft was twice hit by anti-aircraft fire and Pilot Officer Loving was forced down to fifty feet to evade the fire attack. His gunner succeeded in extinguishing two searchlights and from this low altitude, in the glare of other searchlights, he released his bombs. Throughout, this officer has set a splendid example and his devotion to duty in the face of the heaviest opposition is worthy of the highest praise. 1939-45 Star, Air Crew Europe Star with France and Germany Clasp, Defence Medal, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp, War Medal 1939-45. Operational Wings posthumously awarded on 21 December 1945.

Related media

Second World War (1939 – 1945)

In the Books of Remembrance

Commemorated on:

Page 368 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL Surrey, United Kingdom

During the Second World War more than 116,000 men and women of the Air Forces of the British Commonwealth gave their lives in service. More than 17,000 of these were members of the Royal Canadian Air Force, or Canadians serving with the Royal Air Force. Approximately one-third of all who died have no known grave. Of these, 20,450 are commemorated by name on the Runnymede Memorial, which is situated at Englefield Green, near Egham, 32 kilometers by road west of London.

The design of the Runnymede Memorial is original and striking. On the crest of Cooper's Hill, overlooking the Thames, a square tower dominates a cloister, in the centre of which rests the Stone of Remembrance. The cloistered walks terminate in two lookouts, one facing towards Windsor, and the other towards London Airport at Heathrow. The names of the dead are inscribed on the stone reveals of the narrow windows in the cloisters and the lookouts. They include those of 3,050 Canadian airmen. Above the three-arched entrance to the cloister is a great stone eagle with the Royal Air Force motto, Per Ardua ad Astra". On each side is the inscription:

IN THIS CLOISTER ARE RECORDED THE NAMES OF TWENTY THOUSAND AIRMEN WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE. THEY DIED FOR FREEDOM IN RAID AND SORTIE OVER THE BRITISH ISLES AND THE LANDS AND SEAS OF NORTHERN AND WESTERN EUROPE

In the tower a vaulted shrine, which provides a quiet place for contemplation, contains illuminated verses by Paul H. Scott."

For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

 

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