Ontario

ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE
NO. 6 SERVICE FLYING TRAINING SCHOOL

With the outbreak of hostilities in 1939, one of Canada’s
major responsibilities was to provide air training facilities
far removed from the theatre of war and so on December 17,
1939, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was
inaugurated. The first of 107 air training schools was opened
the following year, among them No. 6 S.F.T.S. on this 400-
acre site at Dunnville. From then until the school officially
closed November 25, 1944, this was home for many thou-
sands of airmen and airwomen and 2436 pilots from Canada,
the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S.A.
received their coveted "wings". During that period, 47 Cana-
dian, Commonwealth and American airmen paid the supreme
sacrifice at No. 6 S.F.T.S. while serving King and Country.

Erected by the R,C.A.F., wartime personnel of No. 6 with assistance from the
Ontario Ministry of Culture and Communications, September 10, 1988

LEST WE FORGET

IN HONOURED MEMORY
OF THOSE WHO SERVED
IN WARS OF
1914 - 1918
1939 - 1945
1950 - 1953

1847

TO THE MEMORY OF
ALL THE DEDICATED
VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS
OF THE TOWN OF DUNNVILLE

ERECTED 1975 BY THE
DUNNVILLE VOLUNTEER
FIREFIGHTERS ASSOCIATION
STATION NO. 1

Died for Freedom & Honor

David McMahon
Harrison Jones
William Robbie
Fred Fox
Peter Brown

[front/devant]

THE ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION
BRANCH 142
LEST WE FORGET
DEDICATED SEPTEMBER 15TH, 1991

[right side/côté droit]

[left side/côté gauche]

ROYAL
CANADIAN LEGION
DUNNVILLE
BRANCH 142
LEST WE FORGET
1914 – 1918
1939 – 1945
1950 – 1954
THEY GAVE THEIR ALL

MACKENZIE’S CROSSING 1837

On December 7, 1837, William Lyon MacKenzie’s “Patriot”
forces were defeated north of Toronto by Loyalist militia
and he fled toward the United States. Travelling little used
routes in order to avoid government forces which were
scouring the countryside, he reached this vicinity on
December 11th. Capt. Samuel McAfee, who owned this
property at the time, provided MacKenzie with a boat to
cross the Niagara River. While the rebel leader was
embarking, Col. William Kerby arrived with a detachment of
militia, but the McAfee family distracted his attention until
MacKenzie gained the safety of the American shore.

Erected by the Ontario Archaeological and Historic Sites Board.

GRAND RIVER NAVAL DEPOT 1815

In 1815 the Royal Navy began building a depot on the
present site of Port Maitland. Though intended in the event
of war to accommodate three frigates and 1,000 men, the
base actually supported only the four schooners which then
made up the British naval force on Lake Erie. The Rush-
Bagot Agreement (1817) between Britain and the United
States severely limited naval armament on the Great Lakes,
and the depot was thereafter staffed by small detachments of
soldiers. The wharf and four buildings were washed away in
a storm in 1827, and the remaining buildings had largely fallen
into ruin by 1834 when the establishment was abandoned.

Erected by the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board,
Department of Public Records and Archives of Ontario

CAPTURE OF THE “SOMERS” AND “OHIO”

On the night of August 12, 1814, seventy seamen and
marines, led by Captain Alexander T. Dobbs, R.N., embarked
in this vicinity to attempt the capture of three armed U.S.
schooners lying off American-held Fort Erie. One of the six
boats used had been carried some 25 miles from Queenston,
while the others were brought overland from Frenchman’s
Creek. Masquerading as supply craft, the force boarded and
seized the “Somers” and “Ohio”, the “Porcupine” alone escaping.
Two of the attackers, including their second-in-command,
Lieutenant Copleston Radcliffe, R.N., were killed. This
daring exploit was the last naval action fought on the
Great Lakes during the War of 1812.

Erected by the Ontario Archaeological and Historic Sites Board.