Name: Charles Emile LeBlanc Rank: Flight Sergeant Service Number: R/76272 Service: 419 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force Date of Birth: September 17, 1921 Place of Birth: Belle Côte, Inverness County, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: December 4, 1940 Place of Enlistment: Halifax, Halifax County, Nova Scotia Address at Enlistment: Belle Côte, Inverness County, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Age at Enlistment: 19 Height: 5 feet, 4 inches Complexion: Medium Eye Colour: Blue Hair Colour: Medium Brown Occupation: Unemployed Marital Status: Single Religion: Roman Catholic Next of Kin Louis P LeBlanc (brother) Date of Death: June 17, 1942 Age: 20 Cemetery: Adegem Canadian War Cemetery, Maldegem, Belgium Reference: Section XII, Row G, Grave 1 Commemorate on Page 89 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chambe of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on February 26 Charles Emile LeBlanc was the son of Laurent ‘Lawrence’ C. Leblanc (1889–1935) and Lucy (Delaney) LeBlanc (1886-circa 1930). Charles’ father was born in Margaree; his mother – in Friar’s Head, Cape Breton (between Cap Le Moine and Saint Joseph Le Moine today). Charles Emile went primarily by the name Emile. Charles had four brothers, Louis Patrick LeBlanc (1916-1988), Arthur Leonard LeBlanc (b. 1922), Eugene LeBlanc and Urbain LeBlanc, and four sisters Mary Stella LeBlanc (1918-2000), Sophia Loretta ‘Lorette’ (LeBlanc) Miller (b. 1919), Marguerite Elizabeth Leblanc (1923-2005), and Aurore M. (LeBlanc) Ste. Croix (d. 2011). Upon enlistment, Emile stated that his hobbies included studying bird life, collecting and studying butterflies, hiking, and mountain climbing. His favorite sports were swimming, softball, fishing, as well as skating and baseball. After enlisting in December 1940 and completing his training in Canada, Emile was granted embarkation leave (leave before deployment). While leave typically lasted around two weeks, he was only given five days—a sign, perhaps, of the urgent need for pilots by the RAF. The farewell came early one morning as he walked around their rural farm, lamp in hand, saying his goodbyes. A family member, George AuCoin, was waiting with a truck to take him the 25 miles to the Inverness station, where he would catch the train to Halifax. Unknown to the family, however, was the message Emile shared with George. For two years, George kept the secret of what transpired out of sight of the family. As Emile kissed the soil of his beloved home, he turned to George and said, "George, this is my last good-bye to my family and Cape Breton soil. I shall not be coming back." Emile joined 419 Squadron on February 26, 1942, having transferred from Operational Training Unit No. 12 (12 OTU). On the evening of June 16 – June 17, 1942, Emile was serving as the Pilot of 419 Squadron’s Wellington III bomber X3359 (VR-N), and based at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. On that June night, Emile LeBlanc remained at the controls of his aircraft while his crew members bailed out of the crippled Wellington. The navigator, Pilot Officer John Henry Watson, who was the last to jump, reported that the front gunner, Sergeant NW Bradley, and the wireless operator, Sergeant Eric Winkler, bailed out at Emile's orders, followed by the rear gunner, Sergeant Joseph Arthur Angus Bruneau ‘Bruno’ Angers. Watson and LeBlanc stayed with the Wellington, hoping to make it to the coast. Watson left the plane at 1,000 feet, later recalling, "I fully expected Emile would follow me, but evidently, he decided he didn’t have enough altitude and attempted a crash landing." According to later reports, Emile made a perfect landing, but because he wasn’t strapped into his seat, he suffered a fractured skull. In a letter to Emile's brother, Watson wrote, "He was a great favorite on the squadron, and I had the utmost confidence in him as a pilot." Navigator: Pilot Officer John Henry Watson, RCAF – Evaded and made it back to the UK; Wireless Operator: Sergeant Eric Alfred Winkler (Service No. R/71755), RCAF – Became POW at Stalag Luft Zagan Belaria; Wireless Operator/Air Gunner: Sergeant N W Bradley (Service No. R/77252), RCAF – Became POW at Stalag Luft Zagan & Belaria; Air Gunner: Sergeant Joseph Arthur Angus Bruneau Angers RCAF – Evaded and made it back to the UK The youngest of 419 Squadron’s pilots to be lost, Emile LeBlanc, was just 19 at the time of his death. The German soldiers in the area provided the escort and a proper military funeral for Sergeant Charles Emile LeBlanc. Emile's first cousin Charles was with the Canadian Army serving in Holland and after the Liberation of the Antwerp area used his two-day leave to attempt to find the grave of his cousin. The priest in Belgium who celebrated Mass at Emile's funeral had, unknown to him, ties with the LeBlanc family. The priest and a first cousin of Emile, Father Charles AuCoin, were ordained at the same time. The priest had even remembered Father AuCoin and sent photos of Emile's grave to Father AuCoin mentioning a Canadian Pilot named LeBlanc, "most likely an Acadian, killed on June 17, 1942, and “You might be able to locate some of his family." The correspondence between Charles and the family in Belgium included one interesting detail. The remarks given by the Commanding Officer of the German military funeral: "Leblanc the day before yesterday was our enemy. Today we are burying him as a comrade." Originally interred at a Roman Catholic cemetery in Gooreind, near Wuustwezel, Flanders, Belgium, Emile now rests at the Adegem Canadian War Cemetery in Maldegem, Belgium with another 848 Canadians. He was posthumously promoted to Flight Sergeant. Emile’s story was presented in the Wartime Heritage Association’s stage production Echoes of the Forties – Songs and Stories of a Wartime Generation, performed for audiences at Th’YARC Playhouse Arts Centre in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, to commemorate Veterans Week in 2008

Sources: Canadian Virtual War Memorial findagrave 419th Squadron - E LeBlanc