Norman Monchier J/15619 Pilot Officer Royal Canadian Air Force 403 Squadron November 18, 1922 Burnley, Lancaster, England December 21, 1940 18 Height: 5 feet 7 inches Complexion: fair/blond Eyes: blue Hair: blond/light brown Halifax, Nova Scotia (RCAF Recruiting Centre) Dartmouth, NS Student Protestant/Christian Science Church Single Arthur Monchier (Father) Dartmouth, NS August 19, 1942 19 St. Aubin-Le-Cauf Churchyard Seine-Maritime, France Commemorated on Page 100 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on March 3 Norman was the only son of Arthur and Margaret (Whittaker) Monchier, of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He was born in Burnley, a market town in Lancashire, England. At the age of eight his family moved to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia arriving on April 5, 1931 on the SS Laurentic He attended Dartmouth High School from 1937 through 1940. As extra curricula work he studied Motor Mechanics for two years at the Nova Scotia Technical College. Athletic by nature, Norman was active in hockey, tennis, and swimming, he also enjoyed the hobbies of photography and model air plane building. Having enlisted, he completed his Initial Training in Course No. 23 between April 10 through May 16, 1941. In the course he was assessed as a young, alert keen trainee. He then attended Elementary Training Course No 28 at Virden, Manitoba from May 16, 1941 through July 15, 1941. The Chief Ground Instructor wrote: “Very good student, most youthful member of the class, gives impression of keenness and alertness, very promising young man …” At Yorkton, Saskatchewan between July 27, 1941 and October 7, 1941, Norman completed Service Flying Training on Course 24 and was awarded his Pilot’s Flying Badge on October 4, 1941. Pilot Officer Monchier departed Canada on November 2, 1941 and disembarked in the United Kingdom on November 14, 1941. He was initially assigned to #3 Personnel Reception Center (Bournemouth). On March 10, 1942 Norman transferred from 52 Operational Training Unit to 403 Squadron. During the landing at Dieppe two Spitfires from Squadron 403 from RAF Mansto, providing cover from the Luftwaffe, collided and crashed at St. Aubin-Le-Cauf, five miles south east of the Dieppe landing. Both pilots were killed in the mid-air crash. Spitfire VB AR439 was piloted by Pilot Officer John Ewin Gardiner, J/8140 RCAF, aged 23. He was the son of the Minister of Agriculture in William Lyon Mackenzie King’s government. The second Spitfire VB AR334 was piloted by Pilot Officer Norman Monchier. Both were officially listed as missing in action over enemy territory. Unknown at the time, both pilots were buried side by side in one grave in the churchyard at St. Aubin-Le-Cauf, Seine Inferieure, France. The pilots were given an official funeral attended by the Mayor and the whole population of the town who went to the cemetery, brought flowers and honoured the bravery of the two pilots.