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Wartime Heritage
ASSOCIATION
Remembering World War II
Name:
Rank:
Service No:
Service:
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
Date of Enlistment:
Place of Enlistment:
Age at Enlistment:
Date of Death:
Age at Death:
Cemetery:
Grave Reference:
William St. Clair Huskilson
William St. Clair Huskilson
Flying Officer
J/38161
Royal Canadian Air Force
415 Squadron
April 25, 1923
Lockeport, Shelburne Co., NS
August 19, 1941
Halifax, NS
18
November 2, 1944
21
Rheinberg War Cemetery
Collective grave 7. B. 14-18.
Commemorated on page 341 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance
Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on July 23
William St. Clair Huskilson ws the son of Lewis Churchill Huskilson and Sarah Isabel Huskilson, of
Lockeport, NS. He married Corporal Joan Eileen Allingham (RCAF Womens Division) of Westmount,
Quebec, at the Church of Ascension of Our Lord, Westmount, on November 17, 1943. At the time of
his death she was serving with RCAF Allorton Park, York, UK.
Flying Officer Huskilson trained in Canada until December, 1943. He went overseas, disembarking
in the United Kingdom on December 21, 1944. He continued training in the UK until June 13, 1944
when he joined 434 Squadron. He then joined 415 Squadron on July 7, 1944.
On the night of November 2, 1944, aircraft Halifax MZ603 of 415 Squadron with a crew of eight,
failed to return from bombing operation over Dusseldorf, Germany. Flying Officer Huskilson was serving
as air gunner.
The crew completed the bombing mission and on the return journey about half an hour from the
target, approximately one hundred miles east of Aachen, the plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire. Two
members of the crew managed to parachute from the burning and badly damaged aircraft as it
exploded in mid-air and crashed. They were taken as prisoners of war. The remains of the six crew,
who lost their lives, including Flying Officer Huskilson, were buried in the Rheinberg War Cemetery.