Name: William Frank MacKenna Rank: Sergeant (Air Gunner) Service No: R/153207 Regiment/Service: Royal Canadian Air Force 10 Royal Air Force Squadron Date of Birth: November 17, 1923 Place of Birth: Dayton, Yarmouth Co., NS Date of Enlistment: May 7, 1942 Place of Enlistment: No. 16 Recruiting Station RCAF Halifax, NS Address At Enlistment: Dayton, Yarmouth Co., NS Previous Military: 2nd Battalion West Nova Scotia Reserve Regiment, 1941 for one month Age at Enlistment: 18 Height: 5 feet, 9 inches Complexion: Medium Eye Color: Brown Hair Color: Brown Trade: Farming Marital Status: Single Religion: Baptist Next of Kin: George Hartley MacKenna [Father] Dayton, Yarmouth Co., NS Date of Death: September 15, 1943 Age at Death: 20 Cemetery: Ecorcei Churchyard (Orne, France) Grave Reference: Grave 5. The 74th name on the WWII list of the Yarmouth War Memorial (McKenna on the Yarmouth War Memorial) Commemorated on page 184 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on April 15 William Frank MacKenna was the only son of George Hartley MacKenna and Sarah [Pippy] MacKenna, of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. He had two younger sisters Ruth Isabelle and Patricia Elizabeth. He attended the Dayton School between 1930 and 1938 and the Yarmouth Academy between 1938 and 1941 completing Grade 11. He worked with his father on the farm until he joined the RCAF. He was a stamp collector and enjoyed carpentry. He played baseball and softball and liked to swim and hunt. He completed his Initial Training and Air Gunner training in Canada and embarked at New York on May 4, 1943 for the United Kingdom arriving on May 11, 1943. He was posted to No. 3 Personnel Reception Centre (3 PRC) in Bournemouth on May 12 and taken on strength with No. 10 Operational Training Unit on May 25, 1943. He was then assigned to No. 1653 Conversion Unit RAF on July 20, 1943 and on August 31, 1943 assigned to RAF 10 Squadron. On September 15, 1943 as part of the air operations over Montlucon, France on the Dunlop tire plant near the town of Montlucon in central France, within the Vichy region, the Halifax aircraft [HR920 X1D ZA-L] crashed at Ecorcei, Orne, 6 km south-west of Aigle, France. Four of the crew were killed and are buried in Ecorcei Churchyard: Sergeant (Air Gunner) William Frank MacKenna; Pilot Officer James Miller Dunlop, age 22 of Glasglow, UK [Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve] Pilot Officer Charles John Lindsay Dunlop, age 20, of Glenreasdell Mains, Argyllshire, UK [Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve]; Sergeant Frederick George Cowler, age 34 of Exeter, Devon [Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve] Pilot Officer S. E. Stapley and Sergeant H. Lewis were captured and were interned as prisoners of war. Sergeant William Henry Brian Bilton evaded captured and escaped from France to Spain.

William Frank MacKenna

Sources and Information: Commonwealth War Graves Commission Canadian Virtual War Memorial http://www.inmemories.com/Cemeteries/ecorcei.htm

Photo Courtesy Paul Smith L. to R.: M. Metcalfe - F. G. Cowler - C. J. L. Dunlop - J. M. Dunlop - W. F. MacKenna - N. W. Hayter - G. W. F. Duckett - A. B. Robinson - H. G. Ansell - F. Boles - D. A. J. Cameron - A. G. Foster