Name: John (Jack) Chapple Tate Rank: Flying Officer Force: Royal Canadian Air Force Service Number: J/15351 Date of Birth: June 19, 1911 Place of Birth: Paris, Ontario Date of Enlistment: July 22, 1940 Place of Enlistment: Hamilton, Ontario Address At Enlistment: Caledonia, Ontario Age at Enlistment: 29 Previous: 10th Brant Dragoons (1925-1928) Royal Canadian Dragoons (1925) Trade: Foreman Marital Status: Married Religion: Anglican Next of Kin: Mary Kathleen Tate (Wife) Brantford, Ontario Date of Death: October 14, 1942 Age At Death: 31 Cemetery: St James Anglican Church Cemetery, Paris, Brant Co., Ontario Grave Reference: Plot 25. Lot A. Grave 2. Commemorated on Page 118 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on March 12 Memorial Plaque displayed at the Paris District High School. Flying Officer John (Jack) Chapple Tate was the son of George Richmond and Gertrude Louise Tate, of Paris, Ontario, and the brother of Lucy Margaret and George Clement Tate. He grew up at 79 Walnut Street, and attended Paris Central Public School and the Paris District High School Jack served as a Corporal in the 10th Brant Dragoons from 1925 to 1928 and in the Royal Canadian Dragoons for a month in 1925. He attended Brantford Business College from 1927 to 1928 taking book keeping, and worked as a grocery clerk for the following two years. He began working at Gypsum, Lime & Alabaster in 1930 and became a foreman a year later, working over the next ten years at the Paris and Caledonia branches. On July 20, 1940, he married Mary Kathleen Welsh of Ayr, Ontario. When he enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force in Hamilton, Ontario on July 22, 1940 they were living in Brantford, Ontario. On his attestation papers, he wrote: “I have no fear in the air and delight in aerobatics, tail spins etc. I have several times frightened the instructor as he will testify.” He trained at Camp Borden, Regina, Montreal, Debert, and Jarvis, receiving his Wireless Air Gunner’s wings and promotion to a Sergeant on 25 April 1941. In June 1941, he served overseas in the No. 407 “Demon” Long Range Patrol Squadron under the Royal Air Force Coastal Command. Based around England, the Demons’ used the Lockheed Hudson, operating as a “strike” squadron, attacking enemy shipping from September 1941 to January 1943. Jack took part in 43 operational flights, and his immediate crew was credited with destroying four ships in six attacks. Of the 54 Canadian members of the 407 Squadron to serve overseas during the Second World War, Tate was one of seventeen to return home. On 28 April 1942, Jack received his commission as a Pilot Officer, and returned to Canada on June 16, 1942. He was posted to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia where he trained as a radio officer, and carried out flight operations along the St Lawrence Valley. During this positing, his wife Mary moved to Yarmouth to join Jack, and assisted the local war effort by driving a military ambulance. While temporarily stationed at Mont-Joli, Jack along with three crew members performed an anti- submarine patrol off the coast of Labrador during the early hours of October 14, 1942. Around 5:30 am, their Hudson aircraft fatally crashed near Chandler, Quebec. A lumberjack working in the area heard the explosion, and the site was discovered after three days of searching. The cause of the accident was unknown, although the investigation records suggest the port motor caught fire while in flight, and the aircraft was at too low of an altitude to bail out. Thirteen days prior to his death, Jack was promoted to the rank of Flying Officer. Flying Officer Tate was buried with full military honours by the Royal Canadian Air Force in his home town of Paris, Ontario. A military funeral procession was led from St. James Anglican Church, down Grand River Street, along William Street, to the St. James Anglican Church Cemetery.