Remembering World War II

Name: Cyril Cobb McLellan Rank: Warrant Officer Class II Service Number: R/11549 Service: 405 Squadron, RCAF Date of Birth: June 1, 1918 Place of Birth: River Philip, Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: July 8, 1939 Place of Enlistment: Halifax, Nova Scotia Address at Enlistment: River Philip, Nova Scotia Age at Enlistment: 21 Height: 5 feet, 11 ¼ inches Complexion: Tanned Eye colour: Brown Hair colour: Brown Occupation: Carpenter Marital Status: Single Next of Kin: A. R. McLellan, father Religion: Baptist Date of Death: August 2, 1943 Age: 25 Cemetery: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire, England Grave: 14334 Commemorated on Page 192 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on April 19 Cyril Cobb McLellan was the son of Albert Richard McLellan (1888-1972) and Lillian Edna (Cobb) McLellan (1891-1971), of River Philip, Cumberland Co., NS. His father was born in Nova Scotia. His mother was born in Copper Cliff in Nipissing, Ontario (10 km’s west of Sudbury, Ontario). Cyril had an older sister Helen Mary McLellan (1914-2008), and younger sister Kathleen. He also had three brothers - an older brother, Albert Benjamin McLellan (1916-1942), and two younger brothers Arthur Richard McLellan (1923-2022), and Donald Maxwell McLellan (1926-1988). Arthur served in the Royal Canadian Navy (Service No. V/37085) on HMCS Baddeck, and Flight Sergeant Albert Benjamin McLellan, also served with the Royal Canadian Air Force (61 RAF Squadron) in the Second World War, and died September 10, 1942. Cyril’s sister Helen married Charles Hubert Elroy Smith (1913–1996) of Shelburne, NS, on August 30, 1941. Cyril went to Oxford High School from 1933-1936. Afterwards, he was living in Dartmouth, NS, two years prior to WWII enlistment and was employed as a carpenter and RCAF woodwork instructor. He had employed in farming and lumbering only briefly prior to that. He enjoyed baseball and hockey, and indicated he planned to reengage with the RCAF after the war. After enlistment, Cyril trained in Canada and was assigned to 405 Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was stationed at RCAF Station Gransden Lodge in Great Gransden just outside of Cambridge. The base opened in April 1942 as an operational RAF Bomber Command station called RAF Gransden Lodge with three concrete runways. 405 Squadron was transferred o Gransden Lodge on April 19, 1943. Warrant Officer 2nd Class Cyril Cobb McLellan was wounded by flak during a raid on July 25, 1943, and died of his wounds in the Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge eight days later on August 2, 1943. He was interred at the Cambridge City Cemetery (known locally as the Newmarket Road Cemetery) in Cambridgeshire, England. The Second World War graves of the Cambridge City Cemetery are mainly in two War Graves Plots with a few others scattered throughout the cemetery. The general Service plot was established in 1940, and the Air Force plot in 1942 for the burial of casualties from the Air Force stations set up in the eastern counties during the war. These included Bomber Command bases in Lincolnshire and fighter stations in Norfolk and Suffolk. The Stone of Remembrance, which was unveiled by Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Tedder in July 1951, stands near the centre of the Air Force plot. Cambridge City Cemetery contains 181 Commonwealth burials of WWI, and 829 from the Second World War (including 3 unidentified). The cemetery also contains four non-war service burials and ten war graves of other nationalities.

Cyril Cobb McLellan

Sources: Canadian Virtual War Memorial findagrave