Wartime Heritage
ASSOCIATION
Arthur Douglas Swansburg
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Swansburg, Arthur Douglas
R/76207
Flight Sergeant
405 Squadron
Royal Canadian Air Force
September 11, 1916
Little Harbour, Shelburne Co., NS
November 13, 1940
24
Halifax, NS
Dartmouth, NS
Mechanic
United Church of Canada
Single at enlistment
Milford Clayton Swansburg (Father) Shelburne Co., NS
July 27, 1942
25
Runnymede Memorial
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
Flight Sergeant Swansburg was the son of Milford Clayton and Helen Glenn Swansburg, and
husband of Mary Gertrude Swansburg of Swansburg, Shelburne Co., NS.
He completed Grade XI in Little River Harbour, NS. Six months before his enlistment he
moved to Dartmouth and was employed as a garage mechanic. He married Mary Gertrude Harding
on September 20, 1941.
Completing training in Canada at Toronto, Picton, St Catherines, Rockcliffe and Camp
Bordon, he embarked Canada on October 6, 1941 and was assigned to 22 Operational Training
Unity in England. On July 7, 1942 he was transferred to 405 RCAF Squadron.
On the morning of July 27, 1942, while serving with 405 Squadron of Bomber Command,
Sergeant Swansburg was the Air Observer on an aircraft detailed to carry out air operations
against Hamburg, Germany. The aircraft (Halifax W.1186) crashed at 1:45 am near the mouth of
the Este, a small river running into the Elbe between Crans and Neuenfelds approximately seven
miles from Hamburg. While two bodies were recovered from the wreckage, the body of Sligth
Sergeant Swansburg was never located.
Photo: Operation Picture Me
The Guardian, PEI
Remembering World War II
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