Henry Benedict Bellew Sergeant R/202312 Royal Canadian Air Force December 9, 1924 Loverna, Kindersley, Saskatchewan November 12, 1942 No. 13 RCAF Recruiting Centre, Montreal, Quebec 17 Montreal, Quebec 5 feet, 11 ½ inches Dark Black Brown Single Precision Instrument Assembler Roman Catholic Benedict Cosgrove Bellew (Father) December 2, 1943 18 Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire, England Sec. C. Row F. Grave 13.

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Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Henry Benedict Bellew was the son of Benedict Cosgrove Bellew (d. 1943) and Rachel Farred (Allan) Bellew, of Montreal, Quebec. Henry attended Holy Cross primary school in Montreal, obtained private tutoring for mathematics, completed his secondary education at Sir George Williams High School, and studied short story writing. He enjoyed most all sports, and his hobbies included driving, writing, woodcraft, and building model aircraft. He was a student before enlisting and had only worked for 6 months as a precision instrument assembler at the Dominion Electric Protection Company in Montreal, Quebec. After his training in Canada and transfer to England, Henry was serving with the No. 1664 Heavy Conversion Unit (1664 HCU) at Dishforth, when he was killed in a flying accident at RAF Croft in Durham, Yorkshire, England. He was serving as Air Gunner of Halifax V bomber DG282. Halifax DG282 took to the air from RAF Croft at 5:40 pm for takeoff and landing exercises. During the evening, the weather deteriorated, and the crew were instructed to land. The pilot made one approach to the airfield and then continued with another circuit. During the final approach it is thought that steam from a passing train hampered vision and sight of the field was lost. At 9:40 pm the aircraft touched a haystack, struck the ground sliding to a halt, and caught fire. Five of the crew, including Sergeant Bellew were killed with only 2 survivors. His grave headstone inscription reads, “We miss his smiling face wherever we turn or go; time cannot dim the memories of one so dearly loved”