Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Funeral – Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me

Funeral – Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me

Cemetery – Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me

Funeral – Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me

Funeral – Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me

Funeral – Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me

Newspaper clipping – From the Toronto Star August 1944. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me

Photo of William John McCollum

Photo of William John McColllom – In memory of the students from Western Technical School, Toronto who served during World War II and did not return. Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me.

Photo of William John McCollum – Flight Sergeant McCollum was a member of Raymond Linklater's crew aboard Lancaster ND 994. They were shot down in a Shrage Muzik attack on a night trip to the railyard at Revigny, France. For full details of the RAF raids on Revigny in July 1944 in which 41 Lancasters were shot down, read: "Massacre Over the Marne".

Newspaper Clipping – Photo from The Toronto Star [More information about the raid is from RAF Bomber Command Operations and crew from They Shall Grow Not Old published by Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, Brandon, Manitoba. F.Sgt. McCollum served as air gunner on Lancaster ND 994 in 576 (RAF) Squadron. On the night of 14/15 July 1944, they were among 242 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitos of Nos 1, 5 and 8 Groups sent on an attack on the railway yards at Revigny and Villeneuve. The raid on Villeneuve was carried out but the raid to Revigny was abandoned because the railway yards could not be identified. Seven Lancasters were lost from the Revigny raid. Other crew members lost were: F/O (P) Raymond E. Linkater, age 21, from Burnham, Sask. F/O (BA) Donald M. MacKintosh, age 21, from Hamilton, Ont. F/Sgt. (N) Stanley J. Kozlowski, age 25, from Fort William, Ont. Sgt. (WAG) William W. Beattie, RAF, age 20, from Co. Durham, England Sgt. (FE) J. W. G. Pringle, RAF, age 27, from Hightown, Lancashire They are buried in the Communal Cemetery at Loches-Sur-Ource, Aube, France. Raids in July on Revigny-sur-Ornain resulted in the heavy loss of 41 Lancasters. Four nights after the raid on which F/Sgt. McCollum was killed, a raid by 5 Group resulted in 24 Lancasters shot down a loss of nearly 22 per cent.

Newspaper Clipping – Newspaper clipping from The Toronto Star, April 14, 1945, page 20

Newspaper Clipping – Memorialized on the pages of the Globe and Mail. Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me

Memorial – Certificate from the City of Toronto

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

Western Technical School – In memory of the students from Western Technical School, Toronto who served during World War II and did not return. Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me.

Memorial Plaque – In memory of the students from Western Technical School, Toronto who served during World War II and did not return. Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me.

Memorial – Flight Sergeant William John McCollum is also commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens

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 William John McCollum is also commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens

Gravemarker – His grave at Loches sur Ource, Aube, France