Name: John Robert Weldon Grant Rank: Sergeant Service Number: R/124621 Service: RCAF, Royal Air Force Ferry Command Date of Birth: March 12, 1922 Place of Birth: Dominion, Cape Breton Co., Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: August 16, 1941 Place of Enlistment: RCAF Recruiting Centre, Halifax, NS Address at Enlistment: Halifax, Nova Scotia Age at Enlistment: 19 Height: 5 feet, 8 inches Complexion: Fair Eye Colour: Blue Hair Colour: Brown Occupation: Telegraph Operator Marital Status: Married Religion: Presbyterian Next of Kin: Willina Cecilia Grant (Wife), Sydney, NS Date of Death: October 8, 1942 Age: 20 Memorial: Ottawa Memorial, Ontario Reference: Panel 1, Column 5 Commemorated on Page 77 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on February 20 John Robert Weldon Grant was the son of John Edward Grant (1889-1976) and Annabella ‘Belle’ (Johnston) Grant (1897-1980), and the brother Frank Walter Grant (1920-2011), Jean Grant (1923-2020), Ethel Ferne Grant (1925-2022), and Marjorie Christine Grant (1928-2022). He was husband of Willina Cecilia (MacPherson) Grant (b. 1920). They married on March 15, 1941, in Sydney, Nova Scotia. His brother Frank served in the Canadian Army during WWII. After enlisting in April of 1941, John began training, which included armament training at the No .1 Bombing and Gunnery School at RCAF Station Jarvis in Haldimand Co., Ontario, from March 30, 1942, to April 27, 1942. He was struck of strength from Operational Training Unit No. 31 (31 OTU) in Debert on June 30, 1942, and was taken on strength with the Royal Air Force’s Ferry Command on July 11, 1942. Ferry Command later became known as No. 45 Group of Transport Command on March 25, 1943. 45 Group was tasked with the trans-Atlantic delivery of aircraft to support Allied operations in Europe. At the beginning of October 1942, John, serving as Wireless Operator, and three other crew departed Dorval, Quebec enroute to Prestwick in Ayrshire, Scotland in the UK, via Gander, Newfoundland, a common route for Ferry Command, Their Lockheed Ventura Mk. II AJ450 aircraft reached Gander and departed for Prestwick. The aircraft was reported missing and assumed lost on October 8, 1942, over the North Atlantic, when it failed to arrive in the UK. Three other crew members lost were: Dennis Frederick John Jupp (Sergeant RAFVR, Service No. 754000) Navigator. (Age 22) United Kingdom Thomas Geoffrey Knowles (Sergeant RAFVR, Service No. 153371) Second Pilot (Age 21) United Kingdom Derick D. Wallsh (Sergeant RAFVR, Service No. 656003) Pilot (Age 21) United Kingdom With no known graves all four casualties are remembered on the Ottawa Memorial in Ontario.

Sources: Canadian Virtual War Memorial Commonwealth War Graves Commission findagrave