Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Photo of LEONARD DEWAIN KIDD – Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me

Document – Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me

Group photo – Sgt. Leonard Kidd Photo taken with his niece, Sheila, and nephew, Roy.

Photo of Leonard Kidd – P/O Leonard Kidd served as bomber pilot in the Italian Campaign and transferred to fighter command. On July 7, 1944, his Spitfire was shot down while he was on an armed reconnaissance south of Caen. When he enlisted he was employed with the CNR at Winnipeg.

Document – Incident June 7, 1944, 13.10 hours Belly landed in France.

Document – Report that passage back to England and his Squadron still could not be arranged.

Document – P/O Kidd reports to headquarters detailing the events of June 7th.

Document – Report on Leonard's forced landing.

Document – Squadron's list of Spitfire pilots who flew over beach on D-Day June 7, 1944 and Leonard's forced landing.recorded.

Newspaper Clipping – Family members on record in P/O Kidd's personnel file.

Photo of LEONARD DEWAIN KIDD – Fred Kidd, older brother of P/O Kidd landed with the Regina Rifles on D-Day and fought through to the end. It was then that he tried to find what had happened to his brother because at that point he was still reported as "Missing In Action." Photo taken at one of his many trips back to Holland. He died at the age of 99.

Memorial – Memorial in France to the Spitfire Squadrons who participated on D-Day.

Grave Marker – On 7 July 1944, P/O Kidd was flying as No. 2 with a section from 602 Squadron on a photo reconnaissance mission when they experienced light and heavy flak near Aunay-sur-Odon. His Spitfire was hit by flak and he was seen to take evasive action. No R/T contact was received from him and nothing heard or seen from him afterwards so he was presumed "missing". His aircraft had crashed in the Bois de la Duchesse at St. Marten de la Sallen. A local farmer buried him in woods to hide his body from Germans and reported it near the end of the war. Records show when his remains were found what identified them was the name KIDD and 6257 on the shirt collar. The aircraft could not be identified as it was in so many pieces. (The photo is on the find a grave website and was added by contributor "woose".)