Name: William George Davis Rank: Flight Lieutenant Service Number: J/29881 Service: 439 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force Date of Birth: April 22, 1923 Place of Birth: Amherst, Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: April 23, 1941 Place of Enlistment: Moncton, New Brunswick Address at Enlistment: 190 Church Street, Amherst, Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia Age at Enlistment: 18 Trade: Student Marital Status: Single Religion: United Next of Kin: Isabel Davis (Mother), Amherst, Nova Scotia Height: 5 foot, 6 1/2 inches Complexion: Fair Eyes: Hazel Hair: Light brown Date of Death: March 30, 1945 Age: 21 Cemetery: Holten Canadian War Cemetery, Netherlands Commemorated on Page 508 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on October 28 William was the son of George Austin Davis (1901-1963) and Isabel (Fleming) Davis (1900-1972) of Amherst, NS. His father was born in Campbellton, Inverness Co., NS. He had a garage and worked as an auto salesman at the time of William’s enlistment. His mother was born in Monaghan, Ireland. Prior to his RCAF enlistment, he had served a year as a Private with the North Nova Scotia Regiment with the trade of machine gunner from September 1938 to August 1939. He was discharged because his term expired. Davis learned German and French in high school, worked part time from 1939 to 1940 at the Dominion Store in Amherst, and then as a bank clerk/ledger keeper at the Royal Bank prior to enlistment from 1940 to 1941. He noted at enlistment that he enjoyed music and occasional hockey, football, softball, bowling, and swimming. Summary notes indicate he was “alert, intelligent, pleasant personality, practical, keen to fly, self-reliant and should be better-than-average material for pilot training.” On February 27, 1942, W/C R.F. Davenport, Chief Instructor wrote, "This student has shown a great deal of ability and initiative. Pupil's preference for future training: fighter, bomber, general reconnaissance." In an RCAF Press Release dated March 23, 1945: "Results of attacks by rocket-firing Typhoons near Munster were observed by F/L William Davis, 190 Church Street, Amherst, NS”. "There were about four trains around Munster, and the boys had another attack. We bombed the railway and the trucks where they had stopped an engine. We got four cuts." On March 30, 1945, "F/L W. G. Davis left base at 14.30 hours […], to carry out an Armed Reconnaissance of the Münster-Osnabrück-Rheine area. F/L Davis's aircraft was hit in the mid-section while carrying out an attack on enemy transport. The aircraft was seen to do three rolls in succession from approximately 400 feet, crash and explode on impact." From Minute 1. From a note from S/L J. H. Beatty: "Some MET [Mechanical Enemy Transport] was spotted and attacked by the four, also a train. The Section got separated into twos so that each made its own individual reconnaissance. F/L McCully who was flying No. 2 to F/L Davis observed three MET on the road and went down to make an attack, followed by F/L Davis. When F/L McCully pulled up, he noticed flak around his aircraft also around that of F/L Davis (i.e. followed by a flash under the mid-section)." On October 30, 1945, W/C W. R. Gunn wrote a memo. "Enclosed please find a ring which was received at this Headquarters (Ottawa) from Overseas for onward transmission to the next of kin… the following is an extract from the Bomber Mail letter which accompanied the ring. 'The plane crashed and burst into flames at approximately 14.30 hours on the 30th of March 1945. Part of a Battle Dress blouse was found but no rank. The owner of a nearby farm stated that two thin rings were on the shoulders (i.e... F/L) but had been removed by someone unknown. A ring was taken from the third finger of the left hand. On the inside of the ring is inscribed, "10K. I. F. L.".... the next of kin of this Officer have been advised that their son lost his life when his aircraft (RB435) crashed at approximately 2:30 pm, March 30th, 1945, and that he is buried in the late 25 British General Hospital Burial Ground at Wettringen, Germany." The following entry is from 439's War Operations Record Book (Form 540): R142733 WO I Johnson, K.R., a new pilot was posted in from 83 G.S.U. to boost our strength to 28 pilots, although this was decreased to 27 in the afternoon when J29881 A/F/L W.G. Davis went missing, presumed killed on the last operation of his first tour. This was quite a blow to the Squadron as Bill was a most congenial type with loads of mirth and humour and was very confident all through his tour that he would finish. He carried out 96 sorties totalling 106:00 operational hours and giving a grand total of 1180:40 flying hours. We can only pay Bill the highest tribute for his keen attempts all through the tour to do a good job and once he got over the 50 mark, he put himself all out all the time in giving the sproggs [new recruits or trainees] as much Gen as possible on Ops and he never deviated from this practice. The following entry is from 439's War Operations Record Book (Form 540): F/L "Mac" McCully observed three MET below and went down to make an attack followed by J/29881 F/L W.G. "Bill" Davis; Mac pulled up after a couple of squirts and noticed flak around his and Bill's aircraft followed by a flash under the midsection of the latter's kite. F/L Davis was then seen to do three slow rolls from about 500 feet and subsequently crashed and exploded at map reference B.6894. Originally buried near his crashed Typhoon, north-east of Burgsteinfurt, Germany, William was reinterred at the Wettringen burial ground, and later, was finally interred at the Holten Canadian War Cemetery in Netherlands. On April 5, 1945, William’s Squadron Leader J.H. Beatty, Commanding Officer of 439 Squadron wrote, “...what shook the whole Squadron and Airfield was that he went down fighting on the last and ninety- sixth sortie on his first operational tour. ... He has left an irreplaceable gap in our ranks, but his spirit lives with the Squadron as it presses on, the way Bill would have it do. May I express the very deepest sympathies of every pilot and airman of our fighting team, as well as myself, who next to you and other members of the family, feel this lost most. May I also add that we only hold the highest admiration for his continuously valiant and heroic effort so that Canada and other Allied Nations may be better places in which to dwell and may live without fear from further aggression, and we here can only pay the highest tribute to a truly grand fellow.”

Sources: Canadian Virtual War Memorial 439 Tiger Squadron Book of Remembrance thetyphoonproject.org