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Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Stanley William Dean

In memory of:

Pilot Officer Stanley William Dean

April 22, 1943

Military Service


Service Number:

J/24543

Age:

20

Force:

Air Force

Unit:

Royal Canadian Air Force

Additional Information


Born:

February 16, 1923
Aurora, Ontario

Enlistment:

May 18, 1942
Toronto, Ontario

Son of Stanley Joseph Dean and Sadie Hannah (nee Campbell) Dean, of Toronto, Ontario.

Commemorated on Page 152 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.

Burial Information


Cemetery:

OTTAWA MEMORIAL
Ontario, Canada

Grave Reference:

Panel 2. Column 3.

Location:

The Ottawa Memorial stands on the north-eastern point of Green Island in the City of Ottawa. Overlooking the northern branch of the Twin Falls of the Rideau River, it commands a panoramic view of the Ottawa River and the Gatineau Hills beyond. The Memorial commemorates those of the Air Forces of the British Commonwealth who lost their lives while serving in units operating from bases in Canada, the British West Indies and the United States of America, or while training in Canada and the U.S.A., and who have no known graves. The main feature of the Ottawa Memorial is a sculptured terrestrial globe in bronze, 3 metres in diameter, on a base formed by three bronze beavers rising from the centre of an ornamental pool. The globe, of open lattice-work corresponding to the lines of latitude and longitude, on which the land masses are super imposed in low relief, is crowned by the Air Forces emblem of a bronze eagle with outspread wings. Two curved screen walls faced in limestone, bearing cast bronze panels on which the names appear, face inwards towards the globe. They are placed slightly off centre to allow a clear view through the Ottawa Memorial from the central steps on Sussex Drive and from the wide pathway. Two Air Force crest exist in the paving between the screen walls. A dedicatory inscription, in English on one screen wall and in French on the other, is incised in the stonework between the bronze name panels, which reads as follows:
1939 - 1945
In honoured memory of the men and women of the air forces of the British Commonwealth and Empire who gave their lives in Canada, in the United States of America and neighbouring lands and who have no known grave.

Information courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Digital Collection

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  • Newspaper Clipping– Memorialized on the pages of the Globe and Mail. Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper clipping– From the Toronto Star May 1943. Submitted for the project Operation Picture  Me
  • Newspaper clipping– From the Toronto Star May 1943. Submitted for the project Operation Picture  Me
  • Newspaper clipping– From the Toronto Star January 1944. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper clipping– From the Toronto Star January 1944. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper clipping– From the Toronto Telegram May 1943. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper clipping– From the Toronto Telegram January 1944. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Memorial– Ottawa Memorial … In honoured memory of the men and women of the Air Forces of the British Commonwealth and Empire who gave their lives in Canada, in the United States of America and in neighbouring lands and seas and who  have no known grave. Photo courtesy of Marg Liessens October 2023.
  • Memorial– Pilot Officer Stanley William Dean  as commemorated on the Ottawa Memorial, Ottawa, ON. Photo courtesy of Marg Liessens October 2023.
  • Inscription– Pilot Officer STANLEY WILLIAM DEAN is commemorated on this panel of the Ottawa Memorial. He is one of 37 members of the RCAF who were lost at sea when the ship Amerika, which was bringing them to England to take part in European operations, was torpedoed and sunk by the German Submarine U-306 south of Cape Farewell, Greenland in the early hours of the morning of April 22,1943.  Of the 26 Pilot Officers  who are commemorated on this panel, 15 were among the victims.  The exceptions are R.R. Barnes, J.E.W. Birkett, J.B. Bond, K.B. Callaghan, W.F. Forster, M.A. Foster, H.H. Frost, B.B. Goodman, A.B. Haddow, G.L. Hall, and W. Johnson.
  • Dedicatory Inscription at the Ottawa Memorail– Dedicatory inscription at the Ottawa Memorial
  • The Ottawa Memorial
  • Newspaper Clipping– Pilot Officer STANLEY WILLIAM DEAN was listed as ¿missing as a result of enemy action at sea¿ in the 570th  R.C.A.F. casualty list of the war, released on May 8, 1943 and published in the Globe and Mail on May 10, 1943.  The article, published 19 days after the actual event, speculates on what happened, as no further details were available at the time.  It is now known that the men were lost at sea when the ship Amerika, which was bringing them to England to take part in European operations was torpedoed and sunk by the German Submarine U-306, south of Cape Farewell, Greenland in the early hours of the morning of April 22, 1943.  42 of the ship¿s crew and and seven gunners were also lost at sea.  30 crew members, eight gunners and 16 R.C.A.F Officers survived and were picked up by HMS Asphodel and landed at Greenock, Scotland.
  • Newspaper Clipping– Part 2 of list of RCAF Officers ¿missing as a result of enemy action at sea¿ in the 570th  R.C.A.F. casualty list of the war published in the Globe and Mail on May 10, 1943.
  • Newspaper Clipping– Pilot Officer STANLEY WILLIAM DEAN was listed among the R.C.A.F personnel recently commisioned in Canada in this clipping published in the Globe and Mail on May 6, 1943, thirteen days after he was lost at sea.   Others on this list who perished along with Stanley William Dean are John Borum,  Benjamin Gordon Fife, Warren Oliver Slack, John Noble Rombough, Thomas James Ritchie, Terence William Kidd, and Frederick Bennett Keys.
  • Newspaper Clipping– Pilot Officer STANLEY WILLIAM DEAN and the 36 other members of the R.C.A.F. who perished with him when the ship Amerika was torpedoed and sank on April 22, 1943 were listed as ¿Now presumed dead¿ in the 798th casualty list of Department of National For Air published in the Globe and Mail on February 7, 1944.
  • Amerika– Photograph of the Amerika.  The ship departed Halifax on April 14,1943 bound for Liverpool, England as part of convey HX-234, and was torpedoed and sunk by the German Submarine U-306 south of Cape Farewell, Greenland at 01.54 hours on April 22, 1943.  Pilot Officer ARCHIBALD CHARLES CLIPSHAM and 36 other members of the RCAF perished.  42 of the ship¿s crew and and seven gunners also perished.  30 crew members, eight gunners and 16 RCAF Officers survived and were picked up by HMS Asphodel and landed at Greenock, Scotland.  U-306 met a similar fate six months later when it was sunk on October 31, 1943 in the North Atlantic north-east of the Azores by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Whitehall and the British corvette HMS Geranium and all of the crew of 51 perished.  (Source: Uboat.net)
  • Memorial Plaque– Plaque erected in the sanctuary of St. John's Presbyterian Church, Broadview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  Memorial Chimes were also dedicated "In memory of those of our number who gave their lives in the cause of freedom in World War II, 1939-1945."

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