Military service
Burial/memorial information
Son of Earl William and Edith May (nee Crawford) Charde, of Toronto, Ontario.
Commendation for Valuable Services in the Air
Ref for decoration: CHARDE, F/O William Crawford (J11328) - Commended for Valuable Services - No.13 SFTS - Award effective 26 October 1943 as per London Gazette of that date and AFRO 2386/43 dated 19 November 1943.</P><P>
Also from multiple references including 418 Sqn ORB: he actually perished on Feb 9 1945, the date on his death certificate (10th) is quite odd. He took off at 20h51 on the 9th from RAF Blackbushe, Hampshire, and perished in the crash of his aircraft. The info from German archives mention the aircraft crashed and exploded at 22h20 (still on the 9th) between Willich and Viersen, north of Mönchengladbach, Germany. 418 Sqn ORB for the mission show all aircraft returning prior to midnight meaning the fuel load potentially prevented a later return on the night of the 10th.
Digital gallery of Flight Lieutenant William Crawford Charde
Digital gallery of
Flight Lieutenant William Crawford Charde
Source: Hamilton Spectator, October 5, 1945
Digital gallery of
Flight Lieutenant William Crawford Charde
Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
Digital gallery of
Flight Lieutenant William Crawford Charde
Memorialized on the pages of the Globe and Mail. Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
Digital gallery of
Flight Lieutenant William Crawford Charde
From the Toronto Star March 1945. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
Digital gallery of
Flight Lieutenant William Crawford Charde
From the Toronto Star March 1945. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
Digital gallery of
Flight Lieutenant William Crawford Charde
From the Toronto Telegram March 1945. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
Digital gallery of
Flight Lieutenant William Crawford Charde
From the Toronto Telegram October 1945. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
Image gallery
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Source: Hamilton Spectator, October 5, 1945
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Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
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Memorialized on the pages of the Globe and Mail. Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
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From the Toronto Star March 1945. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
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From the Toronto Star March 1945. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
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From the Toronto Telegram March 1945. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
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From the Toronto Telegram October 1945. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 503 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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RHEINBERG WAR CEMETERY Germany
Rheinberg is 24 kilometres north of Krefeld and 13 kilometres south of Wesel, in the locality of Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal. The cemetery is 3 kilometres south of the centre of the town of Rheinberg on the road to Kamp Lintfort. From the motorway 57, turn off at Rheinberg and at the T junction follow the 510 in the direction Kamp Lintfort. The cemetery is a short way along this road on the right.
The site of Rheinberg War Cemetery was chosen in April 1946 by the Army Graves Service for the assembly of Commonwealth graves recovered from numerous German cemeteries in the area. The majority of those now buried in the cemetery were airmen, whose graves were brought in from Dusseldorf, Krefeld, Munchen-Gladbach, Essen, Aachen and Dortmund; 450 graves were from Cologne alone. The men of the other fighting services buried here mostly lost their lives during the battle of the Rhineland, or in the advance from the Rhine to the Elbe.
There are now 3,326 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War buried or commemorated at Rheinberg War Cemetery. 156 of the burials are unidentified. There are also nine war graves of other nationalities, most of them Polish.
For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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