This memorial tree was planted in memory of Pilot Officer Scott Ogilvie and Flight Lieutenant James Ogilvie who were killed during the Second World War.
Scott McCrury Ogilvie was born and raised in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. He joined the RCAF soon after his 18th birthday and trained as an air gunner. He was assigned to 429 Squadron, RCAF, flying Halifax bombers from RAF Leeming, 8km west of Northallerton. On 30 November 1944, Ogilvie’s crew was part of a 576 aircraft armada tasked with bombing the German industrial city of Duisburg in the Ruhr valley, near the Dutch border.
Two months earlier, on 24 September, the same crew had taken part in a mission to bomb enemy positions near Calais, when their plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed in Allied-held territory near Quercamps, France; all but one crew member had survived. Such good fortune was not to be with them on their 30th of November mission.
At about 8:00 PM, as their bomber was easing into its final approach to their target, something went terribly wrong and Ogilvie’s aircraft collided with another fully loaded bomber, crashing near Altweerterheide, the Netherlands; there were no survivors. Pilot Officer “Scotty” Ogilvie was buried in the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, the Netherlands.
James Manson Ogilvie was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia and joined the RCAF at the outbreak of the Second World War. He initially trained at the Cape Breton airport followed by more advanced training at Trenton, ON. Early in 1940 he was commissioned and served as an instructor at Jarvis, ON and Mossbank, SK. He proceeded overseas in January 1941 and was assigned to 400 Squadron, RCAF.
On 8 February 1942, he and a passenger, Capt M.C. Hawkins, were on a training flight when they collided with a Tomahawk aircraft near RAF Station Odiham, Hampshire; there were no survivors. Flight Lieutenant “Jimmy” Ogilvie was buried at Brookwood Military Cemetery located 50km southwest of London.
