Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Letter – RCAF letter to father re the loss of his two sons, Francis and Edward Gilmore.

Document – Minutes of investigation into loss of aircraft with names of crew.

Memorial – Father J P Lardie's comments as inscribed on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens

Memorial – Flying Officer Francis Ormond Gilmore is also commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens

Memorial – Flying Officer Francis Ormond Gilmore is also commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens

Photo of Francis Ormond Gilmore – Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me

Photo of Francis Ormond Gilmore – Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me

Honour roll – This framed calligraphed scroll hangs in the St. Thomas Aquinas Church at the Newman Centre for Catholic Life on Campus. "For King and Country Members of Newman Club of the University of Toronto Who Have Volunteered for Active Service with Canada's Fighting Forces".

Memorial – Remembering brothers lost … Brothers In Arms Memorial, Zonnebeke, BE … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens … May 2022

Memorial Plaque – The memorial at De La Salle College (Oaklands) Toronto to the former students killed in the Second World War

Newspaper Clipping – Photo from The Toronto Star April 17, 1945, page 4 F/O Gilmore served in 61 (RAF) Squadron. The RAF daily operations show that on August 3, 1944, 1,114 aircraft - 601 Lancasters, 492 Halifaxes, 21 Mosquitos - carried out major raids on the Bois de Cassan, Forêt de Nieppe and Trossy St Maxim V-1 storage sites. Six Lancasters lost, 5 from the Trossy St Maxim raid and 1 from the Bois de Cassan raid. RCAF Bomber Command 6 Group joined the operation with 210 Halifaxes and 51 Lancasters. No aircraft lost. Lancaster PA162 was airborne 1154 from RAF Skellingthorpe, Lincolnshire, to attack the flying-bomb storage facility at Torssy St. Maxim. One RCAF crew member survived - F/O W. D. Forbes, landed by parachute behind the Allied lines. F/O Gilmore and the other crew members are buried in the Creil Communal Cemetery, Oise, France. They are: F/O (BA) Wilbert Stephens, age 29, from Toronto, Ont. P/O (AG) Ross E. Sutherland, age 21, from Toronto, Ont. P/O (AG) Harold D. Thomson, age 20, from Meadowvale, Ont. and two members of the RAF: F/O (WAG) Edward R. Durant and Sgt. (FE) B. L. Rowland Sadly, this was the second tragic loss for Mr. Gilmore. In an operation over Kiel April 4/5, 1943, his son, S/L Edward G. Gilmore, age 23, pilot on Halifax BB 336 of 408 Squadron, was killed when his aircraft shot down by flak.

Newspaper Clipping – The Toronto Star April 17, 1945, page 4