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Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Gaston Landry

In memory of:

Master Warrant Officer Gaston Landry

August 9, 1974
Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic

Military Service


Age:

35

Force:

Army

Unit:

Royal 22e Régiment

Citation(s):

Special Service Medal with NATO Bar, Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal, United Nations Forces in Cyprus (UNFICYP), United Nations Emergency Force Middle East (UNEFME), Canadian Forces Decoration, Dag Hammarskjöld Medal

Additional Information


Born:

January 22, 1939
St-Francois d'Assisse, Quebec

Enlistment:

January 23, 1957
Quebec, Quebec

Son of Omer Landry of Montreal Quebec. Brother of Regis. Husband of Frieda (nee Schonoberg) Landry and father of Nicole, Diane, Rene, Robert, Jacqueline and Isabelle Landry of Charlebourg, Quebec.

He was one of nine Canadian Forces personnel killed on United Nations Flight 51 on August 9, 1974. Their Canadian Forces Buffalo, 115461, was on a scheduled supply flight from Ismailia, Egypt, via Beirut, Lebanon, to Damascus, Syria. Shortly after crossing the Lebanese-Syrian border into Syria, three surface-to-air missiles were fired at the Buffalo by Syrian forces, destroying the aircraft and causing the deaths of all aboard.

When Flight 51 was destroyed, it resulted in the largest single-incident loss of life in the history of Canadian peacekeeping operations.

The men who died that day are commemorated in the 7th Book of Remembrance in the Peace Tower, on the Memorial Wall at Peacekeepers Park in Calgary, Alberta, and on a monument at Buffalo Park, also in Calgary.

The Parliament of Canada proclaimed that: "Throughout Canada, in each and every year, the ninth of August shall be known as National Peacekeepers' Day". The proclamation received Royal Assent on June 18, 2008.

Volunteers at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum at Hamilton, Ontario, restored the derelict airframe of a Buffalo, in United Nations livery, as a tribute to all Canadian peacekeepers and the crew and passengers of the last flight of Buffalo 461. It was dedicated on National Peacekeepers' Day, August 9, 2009, the 35th anniversary of the loss of Buffalo 115461.

Commemorated on Page 161 of the In the Service of Canada (1947 - 2014) Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.

Burial Information


Cemetery:

DUBERGER (ST. CHARLES) CEMETERY
Quebec, Canada

Grave Reference:

Section 6, # 41

Digital Collection

Send us your images

  • Newspaper clipping– Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper clipping– Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Photo of Gaston Landry– Photo courtesy of the Musée du Royal 22e Régiment.
  • Photo of Gaston Landry– Photo courtesy of the Musée du Royal 22e Régiment
  • Photo of Gaston Landry– Photo courtesy of Landry family taken in Germany at Fort St-Louis.
  • Grave Marker
  • Memorial– Memorial located at Buffalo Park, Garrison Green, Calgary, Alberta
Photo Credit - Canada Lands Company
  • Memorial– UNDOF Memorial: CFSCE Museum,CFB Kingston, Ontario.

Courtesy of Canadian Forces Joint Signal Regiment
  • Inscription– UNDOF Memorial: CFSCE Museum,CFB Kingston, Ontario.

Courtesy of Canadian Forces Joint Signal Regiment

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