Remembering World War II

Name: Harold Wilson Oldham Rank: Flying Officer Service Number: C/2397 Service: 11 Bomber Reconnaissance Squadron, RCAF, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Date of Birth: July 17, 1907 Place of Birth: Southampton, York County, New Brunswick Date of Enlistment: August 13, 1940 Place of Enlistment: Moncton, Westmorland Co. New Brunswick Age at Enlistment: 33 Address at Enlistment: Permanent: Woodstock, New Brunswick Temporary: California Marital Status: Married Occupation: Building (drafting and construction) Religion: Church of England Next of Kin: Grace Mabel Oldham (Wife) Height: 5 feet, 10 inches Complexion: Ruddy Hair Colour: Brown Eye Colour: Brown Date of Death: September 27, 1941 Age: 34 Memorial: Ottawa Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario Reference: Panel 1, Column 2 Commemorated on Page 40 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on January 31 Harold Wilson Oldham was the son of William Kaye Oldham (1872-1919), and Jessie Henrietta (Steele) Wilson (1882-1979), and the brother of William Oldham (b. 1893), Marguerite Bertha Oldham (1901- 2006), Harold W Oldham, Earl Ganong Oldham (1909-1959), Adrian A Oldham (b. 1913). His father was a sculptor and owned Woodstock Granite and Marble Works. Harold married Grace Mabel Monteith on September 20, 1930, in Perth, New Brunswick. For a time, he lived and worked in California with Grace. His construction work in included working for the RKO Radio Theatre Studios in Hollywood. Harold was posted to No. 11 Bomber Reconnaissance (BR) Squadron on April 1, 1941, effective March 30, 1941. 11 BR Squadron was stationed in Dartmouth, Halifax County, Nova Scotia. Harold was living and based in Dartmouth at the time of is death. On September 27, 1941, Flying Officer Harold Wilson Oldham was lost at sea in Hudson aircraft AM940. Also killed were Sergeant William Ronald Lance, RCAF (navigator, Hamilton, Ontario), and Cyril Harvey Small (radio operator, St John's, Newfoundland) were lost at sea in Hudson AM940. The flight was reported missing enroute from Gander, Newfoundland to RAF Prestwick on a transatlantic ferry flight. An “XXX” signal from Small indicated that the crew had encountered a situation of urgency, but the aircraft was not heard from again and vanished over the North Atlantic. Flying Officer Oldham is remembered on the Ottawa Memorial in Ontario. He is also remembered on a family grave marker at the Methodist Cemetery in Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick.

Harold Wilson Oldham

Source: Canadian Virtual War Memorial Commonwealth War Graves Commission