A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

World War Two Roll of Honour

 

S

Acting Captain John Trelawney Scudamore
October 29, 1944
British Columbia Regiment
Bergen‑Op‑Zoom Canadian War Cemetery, Netherlands. Age 21
Son of the Revd. Harold Burt Scudamore, B.A., and Maud Trelawney Scudamore, Sardis, British Columbia.

The Scudamore family moved to Sardis in 1937 and their son John attended Chilliwack High School. "Scud" participated in many student activities including, student government, track and field, basketball and hockey. He excelled at academic subjects and upon graduation attended the University of British Columbia for one year, and then accepted a position with a Vancouver accounting firm. He enlisted in the Canadian Army in 1941 and underwent officers' training at Gordonhead, in Victoria. John graduated in September 1942 and while undergoing further training John was assigned to the British Columbia Regiment, a unit of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division. During the Battle of Falaise in August 1944 he was mentioned in despatches, however, no citation is recorded. John's father was the Reverend Harold Burt Scudamore. Reverend Scudamore and his wife, Maud, lived in Sardis and at the time of their son's death were living in Agassiz. At Reverend Scudamore’s former church, St. John the Baptist Anglican Church an altar rail was donated in their son's memory.

 

Warrant Officer II Everett Charles Smith
May 7, 1943
608 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force
Service Number R/92456
Malta Memorial, Malta. Age 26
Son of Edward Charles and Eva Alberta Smith, Cultus Lake, B.C.

Everett's family moved to Chilliwack from Saskatchewan when he was three years of age. He went to school in Chilliwack and later pursued diesel engineering at Vancouver Technical College. Everett was interested in tennis and badminton and was a member of the Chilliwack Hiking Club. In late 1940 he enlisted in the R.C.A.F., but was not called for active service until, March 1941. On Christmas Day 1942 he arrived overseas as a pilot and joined 608 Squadron. When flying a Hudson aircraft on May 7, 1943, Everett Smith and his crew failed to return from operations.

 

Senior Second Engineer George L.V. Smith
October 6, 1941
S.S. Vancouver Island, Canadian Merchant Navy
Halifax Memorial, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Age 47
Son of Elizabeth Smith, Great Gonerby, Lincolnshire, England
Husband of Doreen Margaret Smith, Victoria, B.C.

George Smith was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England in 1894. He started his education in Britain and attended King George Grammar School and Portsmouth Naval College. During the First World War he served in the Mediterranean with the Royal Navy's submarine service. In 1923, as chief engineer, he brought out the first diesel tugboat while working for Coyle Navigation. George arrived in Chilliwack in 1929 and was the Chief Engineer, for eleven years, on the Agassiz‑Rosedale ferry. In 1940 he served aboard the Anglo‑Canadian Shipping Company vessel, the Beulah, and in February 1941 joined the Canadian National Steamship Company. He was reported missing, October 1941, when his vessel, S.S. Vancouver Island, was sunk in the North Atlantic. Although he is recorded as having died October 6, 1941, (Commonwealth War Graves Commission records), his vessel was not actually sunk until October 15, 1941, when the U‑558, captained by Gunther Krech, attacked and sank the S.S. Vancouver Island with torpedoes. The Vancouver Island was the former German merchant ship Weser captured, by H.M.C.S. Price Robert in 1940, off the coast of Mexico.  At the time of his death, George Smith and his wife had two sons, Terrence, 10 and Donald, 8.

 

Pilot Officer Lloyd Snider
2 August 1944
425 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force
Service Number J/89073
Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire, England. Age 32
Son of Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Snider

Lloyd Snider received his elementary and high school education in Chilliwack. His family left for Saskatchewan to take up grain farming, but returned to Chilliwack before the Second World War, as the new venture was not successful. Lloyd did not return with his parents but made his own way to British Columbia taking on various jobs in mining and on freight boats. With the outbreak of the Second World War, he obtained work with Boeing Aircraft of Vancouver. Snider enlisted in the R.C.A.F. in October 1942 and became an air gunner who completed 32 operational missions with his crew. Flying with 425 "Alouette" Squadron, a bomber unit operating with Halifax aircraft, Snider was killed on a cross‑country flight on August 2, 1944. While flying at 4,000 feet, the Halifax suddenly began to dive and crashed into the ground one-mile south-west of Llyth Nottinghamshire, England. There were no survivors. The all R.C.A.F. crew were Flight Lieutenant G.D. Stark D.F.C., Pilot Officers E.F. Pitkin, J.J. Pigeon, P.P. Davies, Flight Sergeant J.E. Code and Sergeant M.H. Waters. On August 13, 1944 a memorial service for Lloyd Snider was held at Latter Day Saints Church, Rosedale.

 

Flying Officer Ernest Sowerby
January 16, 1944
32 Operational Training Unit, Royal Canadian Air Force
Service Number J/36500
Ottawa Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario. Age 30
Son of Alfred Ernest and Hannah Sowerby, Langley, B.C.

Ernest Sowerby's father emmigrated to Canada from Newcastle, England in 1912 but returned to England in 1914 to enlist in the British Army. "Ernie" was born in Newcastle but after the end of World War One, the family returned to Canada. Mr. Sowerby became the liquor vendor in Merritt, B.C. during the 1930s and Ernest began school in Merritt. During the depression he joined a British Columbia cavalry regiment, until he was thrown off a horse, broke his wrist and was discovered to be 16 years of age! At one time Ernie "rode the rods" to Calgary in search of work. He came to Chilliwack in 1936 and became an employee of Cherry Motors, working for Marshall MacLeod in the shop. He enlisted in the R.C.A F. and was trained as a wireless operator air gunner, and was stationed at Patricia Bay with 32 Operational Training Unit. While on embarkation leave, waiting to go overseas, the attack on Pearl Harbour, December 7, 1941 occurred. His leave was cancelled and he became an instructor for the Eastern Theatre. On January 16, 1944, Ernest Sowerby was killed during a ferry flight from Rockcliffe, Ontario to Patricia Bay, B.C.

 

Flight Sergeant Stanley Derek Spencer
May 22, 1944
166 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force
Service Number R/146367
Goudriaan General Cemetery, Netherlands. Age 22
Son of Basil Geoffrey and Hilda May Spencer, Cultus Lake, B.C.

Stanley Spencer was born in Chilliwack, March 15, 1922 and was educated at Robertson School and Chilliwack High School. His hobbies included photography and entomology and much of his spare time was occupied in building various apparatus to continue these projects. During one summer, he was employed at Vernon in the laboratory of the Government Experimental Station. Stanley enlisted in the R.C.A.F. in January 1942 and was trained as a bombaimer. He served overseas with 166 Squadron, but was lost during a night raid against Duisburg, May 22, 1944, when his Lancaster was damaged over the target and crashed at Goudriaan (Zuid-Holland). Two members of the crew became prisoners of war, Sergeants J.F. Tommey and B.F. Bird of the R.A.F. Those killed included Flight Sergeant T.G. Franklin, Sergeants J. Kiltie and J. Moffatt of the R.A.F. and Sergeant A.A. Anderson R.C.A.F.

 

Pilot Officer Maxwell MacLean Stewart
January 12, 1942
Loss of S.S. Yngaren, Royal Canadian Air Force
Service Number C/8536
Ottawa Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario. Age 35
Son of Mr. A.M. Stewart, Grimsby, Ontario

Born in Calgary he was educated at the University of British Columbia. While at U.B.C. he was the president of the athletic association and was a rugby and track star. Max Stewart was one of the most popular teachers at Chilliwack Junior Senior High School. Stewart was held in high regard at the University of British Columbia, where he starred in rugby and track and was the president of the men's athletic association in his senior year. While at the University of British Columbia, Max Stewart joined the Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity. He came to Chilliwack as a teacher in 1934 and enlisted in the R.C.A.F. with two other teachers, Neill MacGregor and Allan Kirkby. At the time of his departure, Max received tremendous applause from several hundred pupils and friends.  Max lost his life, January 12, 1942 when crossing the Atlantic, aboard S.S. Yngaren, in transit from Halifax, Nova Scotia to the United Kingdom. The Yngaren was part of a convoy HX. 168 that left Halifax, Nova Scotia, January 2, 1942 and fell victim to the German U-43 commanded by Wolfgang Lüth. Identified as a straggler, the Swedish steamship Yngaren weighed 5,246 tons and was sunk by torpedo 600 miles west of Ireland. Six passengers were killed. Wolfgang Lüth sunk 46 merchant vessels, 1 warship and damaged two others during the war and was decorated with the Knight’s Cross with oakleaves. He was accidentally shot and killed by a sentry May 13, 1945. Max Stewart is commemorated on the Ottawa Memorial, Ontario. A brother, Dr. N.A. Stewart also served with the R.C.A.F. and was stationed at the R.C.A.F. Recruiting Centre in Vancouver.

 

Flying Officer John Ross Stoneman
October 12, 1944
166 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force
Service Number J/36925
Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire, England. Age 31
Son of Frederick and Christina Stoneman, Chilliwack, B.C.

John Stoneman came to Chilliwack from Mortlach, Saskatchewan in 1934. He spent 4 years working at Dawson, Yukon Territory and returned to British Columbia to undertake machinist training in Vancouver. He enlisted in the R.C.A.F. in October1942 and graduated as a navigator on October 15, 1943. On October 12 1944, while on a training exercise in a Lancaster bomber of 166 Squadron his crew collided in mid‑air with a Hurricane fighter aircraft. All members of the crew were killed when the aircraft crashed at R.A.F. Station, Hemsell in Lincolnshire.

 

Chilliwack Museum and Archives 45820 Spadina Avenue, Chilliwack, BC, Canada V20 1T3 [604.795.5210]