Name: Paul Eaton Nichols Rank: Warrant Officer Class II Service Number: R/124510 Service: 40 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force Date of Birth: March 29, 1918 Place of Birth: Freeport, Digby Co., Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: August 7, 1941 Place of Enlistment: Halifax, Nova Scotia Address at Enlistment: Halifax, Nova Scotia Age at Enlistment: 23 Height: 5 feet, 8 inches Complexion: Dark Eye Colour: Blue Hair Colour: Dark brown Occupation: Teacher Marital Status: Single Religion: Baptist Next of Kin: Herman S Nichols (Father) Date of Death: September 17, 1943 Age: 25 Cemetery: Bolsena War Cemetery, Italy Grave: Section IV, Row A, Grave 3 Commemorated on Page 198 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on April 22 Paul Eaton Nichols was the son of Herman Spurgeon Nichols (1884-1971) and Jesse Manning (Brooks) Nichols (1882-1956), and the brother of Raleigh Bishop Nichols (1914-2003), Theresa Augusta Nichols (1916-2004), and Winston Lee Nichols (1923-2007). Paul’s father was born in Carleton, Yarmouth Co., Nova Scotia, and his mother was born in Freeport on Digby Neck. Paul played hockey, attended public school and high school in Freeport, college from 1937-38 and technical college from 1939-40 (history and English). From 1938-1941 he was employed as a teacher at Central Grove in Digby County and Jordan Branch in Shelburne County. After enlisting in August of 1941, Paul was posted to the No. 1 Service Flying Training School (1 SFTS) at Camp Borden on August 22, 1941 and trained there until October 10 when he transferred to the No. 5 Initial Training School (5 ITS) in Belleville, Ontario. He subsequently transferred to No. 5 Air Observer School (5 AOS) in Winnipeg, Manitoba on December 20, 1941, and the No. 7 Bombing and Gunnery School in Paulson, Manitoba on March 29, 1942. On May 9, 1942, he transferred to No. 1 Air Navigation School (1 ANS) in Rivers, Manitoba, completing his posting there on June 9, 1942 and then transferring to Halifax, Nova Scotia prior to shipping overseas to the United Kingdom. He embarked in Canada on July 20, 1942, arriving in the United Kingdom on July 30th. He joined Operational Training Unit (OTU) No. 51 on September 1, 1942, and 12 OTU on October 17, 1942. Next, he was assigned to Operational Training Unit (OTU) No. 15 on March 3, 1943, and departed the UK for the Mediterranean Theatre on March 19, 1943. From November 1942 to January 1943, 40 Squadron's aircraft were deployed to Malta, with the role of disrupting Axis supply routes to North Africa during the Anglo-American invasion of French North-West Africa. Paul joined the Squadron in March, and since of February 1943, the squadron was based at ‘Gardabia’ Airfield, Tunisia. While based there the squadron replaced its worn-out Wellington Mk IC aircraft with newer and more capable Wellington Mk IIIs. On February 18, 1943, 40 Squadron, together with most of the rest of the RAF's night bomber force in the Mediterranean and American day bombers, joined the newly established Northwest African Strategic Air Force. While designated as a Strategic force, the distance to strategic targets from the airfields in North Africa meant that they were at first mainly employed on tactical operations. The squadron flew operations against targets in Sicily during the Allied invasion of that island in July–August 1943. On September 17, 1943, Paul was serving as the Navigator Bomb Aimer aboard Vickers Wellington X HF534 ‘D’ with Warrant Officer 1st Class Bruce Martin Berven, DFM, RCAF, Pilot (Service No. R/106299), Warrant Officer 2nd Class Harry Allen Pennell, RCAF, Pilot (Service No. R/88737), Flight Sergeant James Hawkyard, RAFVR (Service No. 1141090), and Flight Sergeant Walter George Webster, RAF (Service No. 1319063). 40 Squadron conducted raids on the enemy airfield at Cerveteri on in mid-September of 1943. The attack on Cerveteri on September 17, 1943, including Wellington HF534 didn’t go well; with flares scattered and illumination hampered by smoke, most of the bombing was concentrated north of the target To add to a night of misfortune, one of the illuminators, (W/O B. M. Berven RCAF) caught fire shortly after leaving the target area, and crashed off shore. The 205 Group report on the raid speculates that this might have been caused by a hung-up flare, other records indicate the aircraft was shot down (hit by enemy fire). All five crew of HF534 were killed in action when their aircraft was seen to burst into flames and then crash four miles off the coast near Cerveteri, north of Rome, Italy. Warrant Officer Paul Eaton Nichols is interred at the Bolsena War Cemetery, Italy. Paul is the only known WWII casualty with ties to Nova Scotia interred at Bolsena. The other four casualties (two RCAF, two RAF) of the aircraft have no known graves and are remembered on the Malta War Memorial in Malta.

Source: Canadian Virtual War Memorial findagrave