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Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Paul Edward Driver

In memory of:

Pilot Officer Paul Edward Driver

April 28, 1944

Military Service


Service Number:

J/85612

Age:

20

Force:

Air Force

Unit:

Royal Canadian Air Force

Division:

432 (RCAF) Sqdn.

Additional Information


Son of Thomas Herbert and Mary Frances (nee McShane) Driver, of Toronto, Ontario.

Commemorated on Page 295 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:

6. A. 5.

Location:

HEVERLEE WAR CEMETERY is located 30 km from Brussels and 3 km south of Leuven. Turn left out of Leuven railway station onto the Tiensevest(ring road R 23). Follow the Tiensevest through the junctions Tiensepoort and Parkpoort and along the Naamsepoort. Turn left at the Naamsepoort onto the Naamsesteenweg (N251) signposted Namen, Waver & Heverlee. Continue until you cross the railway line at Heverlee and take the first left turn into the Hertogstraat. Follow Hertogstraat to the end and turn right at the Sport Hall onto the Kerpelstraat. Continue down the Kerpelstraat until you come to a crossroads at which the HEVERLEE WAR CEMETERY is located.

Information courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Digital Collection

Send us your images

  • Newspaper Clipping– Memorialized on the pages of the Globe and Mail. Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper Clipping– Memorialized on the pages of the Globe and Mail. Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper Clipping– Memorialized on the pages of the Globe and Mail. Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Memorial– Pilot Officer Paul Edward Driver is also commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Memorial– Pilot Officer Paul Edward Driver 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
  • Identification– Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Document– Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Photo of Paul Edward Driver– 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
  • Photo of Paul Edward Driver– Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper clipping– From the Toronto Star May 1944. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper clipping– The Toronto Star January 6, 1945, page 27

Additional information on crash and crew:
P/O Driver and the navigator, F.O John Burrows from Mount Royal, Quebec, were on detachment from No. 434 Squadron.  The aircraft they were serving on for this raid was Halifax LW 592.  Both were killed on April 28, 1944, on an attack on railway yards at Montzen, Belgium.

This accounts for discrepancies in research sources.  CVWM has P/O Driver serving in 434 Squadron,  and the book They Shall Grow Not Old published by Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, Brandon, Manitoba, has it as 432 Squadron.  On the website //lostbombers.co.uk, the aircraft is Halifaz LW592.  In RCAF Bomber Command Daily Operations online, the aircraft is shown as Halifax II LW 595, which itself was shot down in July on a raid to Hamburg.

LW592 was one of three No.432 Sqdn Halifaxe aircraft lost on this operation.  It was airborne at 2341 on 27 Apr 44 from its home base at East Moor, to bomb the railway yards at Montzen, Belgium. The attack of 47 Halifaxes and 8 Lancasters was scattered as they were intercepted by German nightfighters.  Ten crews failed to return.  That was a loss of 43 killed; 13 taken Prisoners of War, and 18 successfully evaded.

The aircraft crashed near the hamlet of Sur-les-Bois (Liege), 12 km SW from the centre of Liege. The two airmen killed are buried in the Heverleee War cemetery.  The others survived and the pilot, P/O H. Whaley, P/O D. McDonald, P/O D. McCoy and F/Sgt. K. Doyle were able to avoid capture, but Sgt. A. C. Phillips, RAF, was taken Prisoner of War and interned in Camp L7.

Learn more about the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

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