John Wakefield Sergeant R/273518 Royal Canadian Air Force December 30, 1925 Toronto, Ontario August 26, 1943 North Bay, Ontario Toronto, Ontario 17 5 feet, 8½ inches Fair Blue Brown Single Shipper United Church Elsie Ada Wakefield (Mother) October 20, 1944 18 Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire, UK Sec. G. Row B. Grave 18.

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

John Wakefield was the son of Percival Richard Wakefield and Elsie Ada (Payne) Wakefield of Toronto, Ontario. John was the brother of Kenneth Wakefield and Edna Wakefield. John’s father, born in Folkestone, Kent, UK, and living in Toronto in 1913, served in the rank of Lance Corporal with the 92nd Canadian Overseas Battalion during WWI. John completed his high school education in 1942 and was employed by Ideal Bread Company in Toronto as a shipper from 1942 until his enlistment in the RCAF. His hobby was model aircraft and he played rugby and basketball. Following initial training in Canada and receiving his Air Gunners Badge on March 10, 1944, he embarked Canada at Halifax, Nova Scotia on May 3, 1944 and disembarked in the United Kingdom on May 10, 1944. In England he was assigned to No. 22 OTU (Operational Training Unit) on June 13, 1944 and to Base 61 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit on September 6, 1944. On October 20, 1944, Sergeant Wakefield was the Air Gunner on Handley Page Halifax II LW235 aircraft from RAF Wombleton, Yorkshire, on a training bombing exercise. The aircraft had a crew of seven. Having completed the training exercise, on the return to the airfield, on the third attempt to land, in poor visibility, the aircraft crashed near at Nunnington near Thirsk, Yorkshire. Five of the crew survived; Sergeant Wakefield (Air Gunner) and Sergeant Herbert Vance (Flight Engineer) of Belfast, Northern Ireland were killed.