The Hotton War Cemetery in Belgium, Second World War casualties with ties to Nova Scotia The village of Hotton was once a village under heavy attack during the Battle of the Bulge. It was the most Western part of the German advance, and the Hotton bridge was needed to cross the river Ourthe. They never reached that bridge. Most of the Allied soldiers buried at Hotton, died in the operations to hold and drive back the Germans. Of the 667 war burials, 340 are soldiers, 325 are airmen and 1 was a war correspondent, Major Peter H. Lawless, a war correspondent with English newspaper the Daily Telegraph. There are 527 British, 88 Canadian, 41 Australian, 10 New Zealand and 1 Polish casualty. There is also one Belgian soldier who fought with the 53rd Welsh Division. The plaque outside of the cemetery reads: “On 16th December the Germans launched their last counter-offensive of the war against the lightly held Ardennes sector. Its object was to recapture Brussels and Antwerp and cut the Allies’ supply lines. The advance, 50 miles at its maximum, was halted on Christmas Eve. On 3rd January the Americans, with some British reinforcement, struck back and within 4 days the Germans were withdrawing. Meanwhile British Second Army eliminated the bridgehead west of the Roer and the Americans and French dealt similarly with the salient south of Strasbourg.” Of the 88 Canadians, 85 of them are RAF or RCAF casualties, only 3 are Canadian Army casualties. Among the 85 Air Force casualties, there are four with ties to Nova Scotia. Although many of the casualties interred at Hotton are related to the Battle of the Bulge, the men with Nova Scotian connections served with the Royal Canadian Air Force. They died in separate crashes between October 1943, February 1945, and March 1945. Name: Ellwin Clair Champion Rank: Warrant Officer Class I Service Number: R/72856 Service: 427 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force Date of Birth: February 3, 1923 Place of Birth: Portuguese Cove, Halifax Co., Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: March 13, 1941 Place of Enlistment: RCAF Station Charlottetown, PEI Address at Enlistment: Radio Range Station, Charlottetown, PEI Age at Enlistment: 18 Occupation: Electrician Marital Status: Single Next of Kin: Ethel Champion (Mother), PEI Religion: Anglican Date of Death: October 4, 1943 Age: 20 Grave: Plot XI, Row A, Grave 5 Commemorated on Page 145 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on March 27 Ellwin was the son of George Ellwin Champion (1898-1981) and Ethel Maria (Campbell) Champion (1901- 1998), of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and the brother of Mildred Leeta (Lula) Champion Rennie (1925-2005). Middle name Clare on some records. Ellwin’s first name is recorded as Elvin on his Nova Scotian birth certificate. Ellwin was killed in action when the aircraft in which he was serving, Halifax aircraft LK 920, went missing during a night operation against Frankfurt, Germany. Name: Walter Ross Ashdown Rank: Flying Officer Service Number: J/39320 Service: 428 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force Date of Birth: January 13, 1914 Place of Birth: Saint John, New Brunswick Date of Death: March 6, 1945 Age: 31 Grave: Plot III, Row E, Grave 12 Commemorated on Page 492 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on October 20 Walter was the son of Walter Ernest Ashdown (1887-1962) and Helen Ella (Kilner) Ashdown (1891-1944), of Windsor, Ontario, and the husband of Dorothy Kathleen (Williams) Ashdown (1909-1990), of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Walter was killed in action while on a bombing mission over Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany. Several important factories were destroyed, including the Siegmar tank engine plant. His aircraft successfully dropped its bomb load over the target but iced up on the return leg and crashed into woodland northeast of le Roche in Ardennes, Belgium. The raid on Chemnitz was a continuation of Operation Thunderclap with 760 aircraft. Severe icing conditions over home bases cost 9 Allied aircraft, especially from 426 Squadron. A further 22 aircraft were lost in the operation. The centre and south of the city of Chemnitz were badly damaged by fire. Name: John Preston Barlow Rank: Flight Lieutenant Service Number: J/16953 Service: 419 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force Date of Birth: June 11, 1917 Place of Birth: Westville, Pictou Co., Nova Scotia Date of Death: February 5, 1945 Age: 27 Grave: Plot IV, Row B, Grave 6 Commemorated on Page 493 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on October 21 John was the son of Joseph "Howard" Barlow (1892-1960) and Greta Bell (Clark) Barlow (1888-1980), and the husband of Kathleen Mae (Townsend) Barlow (b. 1920) whom he married in October of 1942 in Southampton, Warwick, Warwickshire, England. She was born in Alcester, Warwickshire. John was killed in action when the Lancaster bomber, KB787, in which he was serving suffered a mid-air collision with Lancaster over the Ardennes area and en route to the target. and crashed in a field five miles south of Vielsalm, near Courtil, Belgium. While flying in layer-type clouds that persisted up to 15,000 feet, their aircraft came into collision with a Lancaster of 433 Squadron. In the collision or the crash that followed (5 miles from Vielsalm, Belgium), all but one of the two aircrews involved were killed. The lone survivor was Pilot Officer Sutter, who, after a brief leave of absence, was able to rejoin the squadron. Squadron Leader A. Ross Dawson, the Chief Technical Officer with 424 and 433 Squadrons at Skipton on Swale (North Yorkshire, England), wrote in his diary in 1945: "Got 8 from 424 & 6 from 422 away on ops again tonight on Bonn… Everything went well on take-off, but our horrible Sunday luck came through again and Flight Lieutenant Mara in "M" Mike of 433 Squadron didn't come back tonight. We found out later he had a midair collision over France, and the M/U [Mid-Upper] gunner was found over there near St. Vith wandering around in a daze with amnesia and not knowing what had happened or how he got there. Apparently, he was the only one to escape with his life". The other crew lost from Lancaster KB787 were: Flight Lieutenant Douglass John Alexander Buchanan (J/17456), DFC, Air Bomber, interred in Plot IV, B, 3 Flying Officer Leslie Frederick Edmonds (182690), Flight Engineer, Plot IV, B, 1 Flying Officer Jack Arthur Gibbs (J/17248), Air Gunner, Plot IV, B, 2 Flight Lieutenant William Robert Kearns (J/16490), Air Gunner, Plot IV, B, 4 Flying Officer Donald William Spence (J/39399), Navigator, Plot IV, B, 5 Name: Arnold Jeffers Tyrrell Rank: Flying Officer Service Number: J/37832 Service: 433 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force Date of Birth: December 30, 1920 Place of Birth: Amherst, Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia Date of Death: February 4, 1945 Age: 24 Grave: Plot IV, Row A, Grave 5 Commemorated on Page 572 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on November 29 Arnold was the son of Harry Edward Tyrrell (1890-1958) and Vera Lilian (Jeffers) Tyrrell (1897-1944), and the husband of Joan Audrey (Kirby) Tyrrell (1921-2011), of Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. Arnold was a Bomb Aimer on a Lancaster bomber PA219 from 433 Squadron, which collided with Lancaster KB787, in which John Preston Barlow was also a casualty. The other crew lost from Lancaster PA219 were: Flying Officer Carl Herbert Howald (J/37847), Pilot Pilot Officer Neil Arbuthnot Hurst (J/89092), Wireless Operator Flight Lieutenant Neil Duncan Mara (J/16120), Pilot Flying Officer Wilfred Laurier Melbourne (J/29614), Navigator Pilot Officer Brian Terence Sheeran (J/95490), Air Gunner Sergeant Leslie John Sims (3011705) Flight Engineer Flying Officer William George Whitton (J/88009), Air Gunner

Hotton War Cemetery, Belgium Second World War casualties with ties to Nova Scotia

Sources: Canadian Virtual War Memorial findagrave Commonwealth War Graves Commissison