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Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Douglas Hartley Petch

In memory of:

Flying Officer Douglas Hartley Petch

November 18, 1943

Military Service


Service Number:

J/14027

Age:

22

Force:

Air Force

Unit:

Royal Canadian Air Force

Division:

623 (R.A.F.) Sqdn

Additional Information


Son of George Ford Petch and Mary Kathleen Petch, of Gananoque, Ontario.

Commemorated on Page 202 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.

Burial Information


Cemetery:
Grave Reference:

Coll. grave 18. B. 6-10.

Location:

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.

Information courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Digital Collection

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  • Memorial– Flying Officer Douglas Hartley Petch is also commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Memorial– Flying Officer Douglas Hartley Petch is also commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Memorial– Father J P Lardie's comments as inscribed on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Photo of Douglas Hartley Petch– Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Correspondence– Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Correspondence– Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Correspondence– Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Correspondence– Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Correspondence– Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Correspondence– Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper clipping– From the Toronto Star December 1942. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Gananoque Remembers– Gananoque, Ontario is a small town situated on the St. Lawrence River in the heart of 1,000 Islands.  It is one of hundreds of communities throughout Canada with war memorials which commemorate more than 110,000 men and women who lost their lives during both world wars. Over a  thousand citizens from Gananoque and surounding areas served in the navy, army, or air force: 83 lost their lives in parts of Canada, and in the battlefields of Europe.  Among the dead of Gananoque include a 15 year old solider, a father of ten, four sets of brothers and a Victoria Cross winner. 

Today the town cenotaph lists the names of those who died and  few citizens are aware of their family backgrounds or their circumstances of their deaths. Geraldine Chase of Gannaoque and Bill Beswetherick of Kingston believed it was necessary to collect this information and perpetuate their sacrifices. 					

Gananoque Remembers book is a tribute to those who gave their lives for our freedom.
  • Memorial Page– Douglas Petch is honoured on page 162 and 163 of the Gananoque Remembers booklet, published on January 31, 2005.
  • Memorial Page 2
  • Photo of Douglas Petch– Douglas Petch and his fiancee Evelyn Smith
  • Photo of Douglas Petch
  • Photo of Douglas Petch
  • Photo of Douglas Petch
  • Document
  • Document
  • Document
  • Document
  • Original Gravemarker
  • Biography
  • Biography
  • Biography
  • Photo of Douglas Petch– Douglas Petch in England.
  • Newspaper Clipping– Newspaper Clipping:  Jeanette Petch, sister of F.O. Douglas Petch.  Gananoque's War Stamp Girl 1942
  • Photo of his mother– Photo of F.O. Douglas Petch's mother:
Mary Kathleen Petch, nee Pelow.
His father, George Ford Petch, predeceased his son in January 1943.
  • Photo of Douglas Petch
  • Grave Marker
  • Grave Marker

Learn more about the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

To learn more please visit our help page. If you have questions or comments regarding the information contained in this registry, email or call us. For inquiries regarding the names and information found in the RCMP Honour Roll, please email the RCMP.

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