George Robert Hooper Sergeant R/197102 429 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force February 22, 1925 St. Thomas, Elkgine Co., Ontario. October 19, 1942 No 9 Recruiting Station, RCAF, London, Ontario St. Thomas, Ontario 17 5 feet, 7 inches Fair Brown Red Single Newspaper Apprentice Presbyterian Janet Louisa Hooper (Mother) St. Thomas, Ontario December 4, 1943 18 Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany Coll. grave 8. D. 35-37

Name: Rank: Service No: Service: Date of Birth: Place of Birth: Date of Enlistment: Place of Enlistment: Address at Enlistment Age at Enlistment: Height: Complexion: Eye Colour: Hair Colour: Marital Status: Trade: Religion: Next of Kin: Date of Death: Age at Death: Cemetery: Grave Reference:

Canadian Virtual War Memorial

George Robert Hooper was the son of William George Hooper (1893-1971) and Janet Louisa (Calder) Hooper (1897-1992) of St. Thomas, Ontario. He was the brother of Laura Louisa Hooper and Donna Elaine Hooper. George was educated at Scott Public School (1930-1938) and Arthur Voaden Vocational (1939-1941) where he completed the first three years of the Industrial course, specializing in Woodworking. Prior to his enlistment he was employed as a Printers Apprentice from 1941 with the Times Journal, St. Thomas, Ontario. He enjoyed football, baseball, and basketball. George completed his initial training in Canada and was awarded his Air Gunner Badge on June 25, 1943. He embarked Canada on July 16, 1943 and disembarked in the United Kingdom on July 22, 1943. He was assigned to No. 1659 Conversion Unit from July 23, 1943 through August 3, 1943. He joined 429 Squadron on September 10, 1943. On the night of December 3, 1943, Squadron 429 left its base at 23.54 hrs. In the early morning of December 4, at 03:40 hrs. near Wittenmoor, the Halifax aircraft JD.361 in which Sergeant Hooper was an air gunner, was shot down by a night fighter 15 km. south- west of Stendal. The aircraft burst into flames and exploded in mid-air and the wreckage was strewn over a wide area. Two of the crew bailed out, Flight Officer H. M. Brown and Sergeant D. Bruno and were taken as prisoners of war. The bodies of three were recovered, two of them from among the wreckage. (Gunner Donald Grant Hamilton, Sergeant George Robert Hooper, and Pilot Officer F Hingston). No trace could be found of the remaining three (Flight Officer W. E. Hampton, Flight Sergeant J. C. Lochhead, and Sergeant J. R. Williams). The aircraft (Halifax JD 361) was initially listed as “missing” when planes from Squadron 429 RCAF returned from the air operation over Leipzig, Germany. George Hooper and Donald Hamilton was subsequently reported “missing, believed killed” based upon German information reported through the International Red Cross in September 12, 1944).