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Messages - Caroline_d

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19
Hello again

We wait weeks for some further information and then get great news from Martha and also further information found from McGills.

Details received are as follows was that they had been in contact with the sole surviving sister of William Allison and was planning to pay her a visit in the near future.  They have found out that she is able to identify all the men in the photograph of the crew and apparently has a copy of it with the names and addresses on the back. 

She also confirms that Charles Hamel was the pilot (he had two younger brothers in Montreal who the Allison family used to be in contact with – their names were Louis and Roger). The Allisons also became friends with Charles Hamel’s mother. We also have confirmation that Bill Allison was the bombardier on the fatal flight.

Amazing...we wait weeks for a lead and then two in 24 hours!  Will keep you posted if I have further information.

Caroline

20
With grateful thanks to Martha who visited the Archives we can now put the names to each of the men as follows:


Left to right, Hamel, Groulx, Burke, Allison, DuSablon, and Villeneuve


Caroline


21
Well done Martha, great details.  Without you taking the time we would never have found all the information you had so thank you.

Regarding Villeneuve, I share your confusion as the Senator does mention his "step-brothers" as being  Jules and Henry with a sister called Claire and  in his article there is a photograph of him and his mother Clara Chartrand, maybe Clara was step-mother to Jules and listed in the notice (and the Villeneuve family web sites) as his natural mother had passed away?  Anyway, I won't digress there...

There is so much info on the files, at least it will encourage anyone else searching family members to go to the Archives to find out further information.

Thanks to everyone for all your hard work...we may never find out who the picture was of but it has been interesting follwing all of the postings and help.


Caroline




22
Thanks Bill, I've  now amended.

23
I've had confirmation that the photograph is not William Allison and doesn't  appear to be a family member. 

William Allison has been identified by his nephew as third from the right

Thanks to everyone at McGills for your help.


24
Have been checking a few sites regarding uniforms etc.  I've found a number of RCAF members who were stationed in the UK and there is no sign of "Canada" on their uniforms above the shoulder badge.

The main source for information is McGill's where they have a site for past students and a number of young men in uniforms who were in the RCAF have the same badge as our guy. 

I don't think it's appropriate to name the men here but the site has information. 

Now I'm even more confused!

Caroline

25
Bill,  will try a few other avenue's first (but am running out of them fast!).  Going to try the RAF sites etc and see what happens.


26
Bill, I understand that there may have been a different photograph taken when promotions were given etc.

Can you please take a look at the photo posted of William Allison and maybe see anything from the badges on his uniform and hat which may give an idea of what stage they were taken.  His record card is also posted.  There are lots of postings, let me know if you want it emailed.

Thanks
Caroline

27
Some further information received from McGills University.

Quote
We are also closer to identifying a member of the Allison family here in Montreal. It turns out that William attended McGill University for only one year (1936/37) without graduating. However two of his younger sisters attended the university graduating in 1942 (Beatrice) and 1944 (Joan). Both have passed away  but we have now been able to find names of some later generations of William’s siblings (apparently he had six sisters and no brothers). We suspect there might be one sister, Phyllis, still alive.

We are using some volunteers at the university to help us locate a living relative, and will let you know when we have success.

While I’m not an expert on these things, it should be remembered that in the early years of the war, the RCAF didn’t have a large presence in Britain, and many crewmembers served with the RAF until sufficient numbers of aircraft could arrive ffrom the RCAF. There were also shortages of material and uniforms here in Canada, so it could be we were using RAF surplus uniforms for the cadets. A third point is that Canada ran the Commonwealth Air Training plan where we trained pilots in Canada (less risk of being shot down and more petrol available) prior to being sent to Europe. I have seen pictures of Polish, Australian and French crew being trained in Western Canada, some in RAF uniforms.

Another possibility about the origin of the photo found at the crash site is that it might not be of any of the crew, but could have been a photo of a younger brother that one of the crew carried with them. If they were only on a night training mission, they wouldn’t be carrying all of their wordly goods on the plane, so it could be that the photo was of someone else (like a brother) that one of the airmen had inside a wallet.

Denn has said all along that maybe the photograph was taken at recruit stage...Denn would this also be a reason why "Canada" doesn't appear on his shoulder?

Hopefully when Martha makes her visit to see the records we may have some good news.



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