Name: Rank: Service No: Service: Date of Birth: Place of Birth: Date of Enlistment: Place of Enlistment: Address at Enlistment: Age at Enlistment: Height: Eyes: Hair: Trade: Marital Status: Religion: Next of Kin: Date of Death: Age at Death: Memorial: Reference:

Ray Bertram Hilchey

Sources Veterans Affairs Canada aircrewremembered.com

Ray Bertram Hilchey Flying Officer J/40778 Royal Canadian Air Force 514 RAF Squadron February 16, 1923 Popes Harbour, Halifax County, NS September 24, 1942 Halifax, NS Halifax, NS 19 5 feet, 6½ inches Grey Brown Office clerk Single Anglican Stanley Betram Hilchey, (Father) Halifax May 9, 1945 22 Clichy Northern Cemetery, Hauts-de-Seine, France Plot 16. Row 12. Coll. grave 17-18. Commemorated on Page 524 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on November 5 Commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial in Nanton, Alberta Ray Betram Hichey was the son of Stanley Bertram and Loretta Esperance (Lawlor) Hilchey, of 108 Lawrence Street in Halifax. His father was from Popes Harbour and worked as a foreman; his mother was from Spry Bay. He was the brother of Harry St. Clair and Glyn Charles. He completed grade nine at the Chebucto Road School (1928-1935), his high school at Bloomfield High (1935-1938), and enrolled at the Nova Scotia Technical College for telephone substation courses (1938-1939). Photography and scouting were his hobbies in grade school. He enjoyed tennis, baseball and recreational sports. He worked as a maintenance clerk with Maritime Tel and Tel Company on Hollis Street in Halifax prior to enlistment (1938-1942). After enlistment, his training included time in Lachine & St. Hubert, Quebec, Saskatoon and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and Brandon and Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. Ray departed Canada via Halifax on April 29, 1944, disembarking in the UK May 7, 1944 and serving overseas until his death May 9, 1945. On Wednesday, May 9, 1945, Ray’s Avro Lancaster III’s flight (Serial RF230, markings JI-B), on which he was the Navigator, was on Operation Exodus engaged in the repatriation of prisoners with 24 former Allied prisoners of war on board. Departing from Juvincourt, france, their destination was RAF Waterbeach in Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, England. After taking off at 12:15 pm, the pilot reported problems with the controls and intended to return to Juvincourt. The plane crashed in a wooded area at Roye-Amy (South East Roye, France) forty three nautical miles into the flight at 12:26 pm. This was the largest single loss of life resulting from the loss of a single Bomber Command aircraft. Six days earlier On May 3, 1945 the parents of Flying Officer Evers) received a letter that on a previous mission they had been flying food from England to Holland to feed the starving population of the Netherlands. Crew: Pilot, Flying Officer Donald Beaton Flight Engineer, Flight Sergeant John Goodworth Brittain Wireless Operator/Air Gunner, Flight Sergeant Alfred McMurrough Navigator, Flying Officer Ray Betram Hilchey Air Gunner, Pilot Officer Robert MacPherson Toms Air Gunner, Pilot Officer Orval Clare Evers Passengers: Sergeant Ronald Arthur Adams, 5111739, Royal Warwickshire Regiment Private Thomas Anderson, 2940187, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders Private William Leonard Ball, 804169, The Queen’s Royal Regiment Private Samuel James Bayston, 4751822, Green Howards (Yorkshire Regiment) Corporal Emmanuel L. Belshaw, 2650397, East Surrey Regiment Private Roland Albert Betton, 4032985, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry Lieutenant Patrick Archibald Tomlin W.B. Campbell, 124175, Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment Private Ronald Ernest Clark, 5954856, Royal Scots Private Walter Croston, 2185985, Pioneer Corps Gunner Alfred James Spencer Crowe, 840450, Royal Artillery Fusilier Harold Cummings, 3461448, Lancashire Fusiliers Private Richard Danson, 3392078, East Surrey Regiment Rifleman Thomas James Edwards, 6912680, Rifle Brigade Lance Corporal George William Franks, 6844798, King’s Royal Rifle Corps Gunner A. N. Labotske, 45537, South African Artillery Pioneer W. L. Lindheimer, Pal/12055, Pioneer Corps Pioneer Mordhai Maschit, Pal/12056, Pioneer Corps Fusilier Owen Parkin, 3448706, Lancashire Fusiliers Guardsman James Arthur Roe, 2719806, Irish Guards Lieutenant Eric Thomas Theodore Snowdon, 94190, Royal Artillery Corporal Albert George Thompson, 5253245, Worcestershire Regiment Private Ralph Turnbull, 4451208, Durham Light Infantry Captain Robert Worsley Wheeler, 85759, Royal Engineers Private Patrick Yates, 14208422, Lancashire Regiment