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Canadian Virtual War Memorial

John Hamilton Charles

In memory of:

Flight Sergeant John Hamilton Charles

May 31, 1942
Niederaussem, Germany

Military Service


Service Number:

R/59571

Age:

22

Force:

Air Force

Unit:

Royal Canadian Air Force

Division:

61 (R.A.F.) Sqdn

Citation(s):

1939-1945 Star, Europe Star, Defense Medal, War Medal 1939-1945, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp, operational wings.

Additional Information


Born:

December 4, 1919
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Enlistment:

July 19, 1940
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Son of Major John Leslie Charles, D.S.O., of the Royal Canadian Engineers, and Helena Violet Hamilton, of Winnipeg, Manitoba. John served in England and France during the First World War.

He was an army cadet at St. John's College in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and took the COTC course as a private, service number 995, from November 9, 1936 to an unknown date. He served in Canada and Great Britain. He had 682 days of service, including 422 days overseas.

Commemorated on Page 64 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.

Burial Information


Cemetery:
Grave Reference:

Joint grave 1. E. 17-18.

Location:

Rheinberg is 24 kilometres north of Krefeld and 13 kilometres south of Wesel, in the locality of Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal. The cemetery is 3 kilometres south of the centre of the town of Rheinberg on the road to Kamp Lintfort. From the motorway 57, turn off at Rheinberg and at the T junction follow the 510 in the direction Kamp Lintfort. The cemetery is a short way along this road on the right.

The site of Rheinberg War Cemetery was chosen in April 1946 by the Army Graves Service for the assembly of Commonwealth graves recovered from numerous German cemeteries in the area. The majority of those now buried in the cemetery were airmen, whose graves were brought in from Dusseldorf, Krefeld, Munchen-Gladbach, Essen, Aachen and Dortmund; 450 graves were from Cologne alone. The men of the other fighting services buried here mostly lost their lives during the battle of the Rhineland, or in the advance from the Rhine to the Elbe.

There are now 3,326 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War buried or commemorated at Rheinberg War Cemetery. 156 of the burials are unidentified. There are also nine war graves of other nationalities, most of them Polish.

Information courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Digital Collection

Send us your images

  • Newspaper clipping– In memory of the men and women memorialized on the pages of the Winnipeg Evening Tribune. Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me.
  • Memorial– Father J P Lardie's comments as inscribed on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Memorial– Flight Sergeant John Hamilton Charles is also commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Memorial– Flight Sergeant John Hamilton Charles is also commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens

Learn more about the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

To learn more please visit our help page. If you have questions or comments regarding the information contained in this registry, email or call us. For inquiries regarding the names and information found in the RCMP Honour Roll, please email the RCMP.

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