North Wellington men made the ultimate sacrifice

WELLINGTON COUNTY – Many Wellington County residents died while fighting for the Canadian military during the Second World War. 

Those soldiers left loved ones behind and some have family members still residing in Mapleton, Minto and Wellington North.

Information about the following local fallen soldiers from was complied from information on Veteran Affairs Canada’s Canadian Virtual War Memorial. 

S. Verdun Woyce 

Flight Sergeant Stanley Verdun Woyce grew up in Palmerston. His parents were James and Annie Woyce and his aunt was Jos. Woyce. 

He enlisted in February 1941. 

Woyce trained at Manning Pool, then graduated from Guelph Wireless School in 1942, making him a qualified wireless operator, and then graduated from Jarvis in March 1942.

He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force and went overseas in April of 1942.  

He was reported missing on Jan. 8, 1943, after a Lancaster aircraft bomber he was on failed to return to its base after a raid on Ruhr Valley in Germany. 

Woyce was 26 years old when he went missing. 

He is buried in Runnymede Memorial cemetery in Surrey, England and his name is engraved on the Palmerston cenotaph. 

Wilfred Wolf

Pilot Officer Wilfred Lawrence Wolf was from Palmerston. 

His parents were Jacob and Margaret Wolf. Jacob died in 1926, when Wilfred was about four years old. 

Wilfred was the youngest of six children. His siblings were John, Robert, Stewart, Mary and Fanny Wolf.  Fanny died  in 1918,  before Wilfred was born. 

Wolf was flying on the Lancaster bomber of 432 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, based at East Moor in Yorkshire, England when it crashed near Aldborough on Feb. 2, 1944. 

According to a plaque in Aldborough honouring Wolf and the six other people on the plane, “Their aircraft, on a cross-country training flight, had caught fire and was losing height when the pilot, with great skill, managed to avoid the village and instead came down on Studforth Hill, a short distance to the south.” 

Wolf was 20 years old when he died. The others were all between  20 and 24 years old. 

He is buried in the Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery in Yorkshire, England and his name is engraved on the Palmerston cenotaph.    

Robert Caldwell Little

Flight Sergeant Robert Caldwell Little was a wireless air gunner in the Royal Canadian Air Force who went to elementary and high school in Arthur. 

He was born on a farm near Caledon and had five brothers and two sisters. 

Before joining the military Little worked for the Royal Bank in Arthur, St. Thomas, Chatham and Strathroy. 

Little trained for the Air Force at Jarvis and for his wireless badge in Quebec. 

He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 and went overseas in May of 1942. 

“In … letters home, he told of visiting interesting places in many parts of the British Isles,” stated an article in the Toronto Telegram. 

According to an article in the Toronto Star, Little’s mother believed the flight on which he died was his first operational flight, “as his last letter stated that he had just arrived in the Mediterranean and until then had not been on operational duty.”  

Little is buried in the Malta Memorial Cemetery in Malta.

Thomas Bertram Borton

Private Thomas Bertram Borton  was the son of W. Roy and Lillian M. J. Borton of Palmerston. 

He was married to Thelma J. Borton from Haliburton and worked at the Palmerston Creamery before enlisting. 

He first went overseas on February 1944, initially as a member of the Central Ontario Regiment.

Borton then served with a medical unit of the Second Battallion of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada. 

He was 24 years old when he was killed in action in Italy in May 23, 1944. 

Borton is buried in the Cassino War Cemetery in Italy and his name is engraved on the Palmerston cenotaph. 

Victor Innanen

Private Victor Innanen was born in Arthur on April 2, 1926. 

He went primary school at U.S.S. #17, Arthur and Minto Lot 19, Conc. 12 in the 1930s. 

His parents were Alex and Ida Innanen.

He was 15 years old when he enlisted in the Canadian military in London, Ontario on Feb. 12, 1942. His real name was Victor Innanen but he served as Victor Coja.

He was 17 years old when he was killed in action on Jan. 11, 1944. 

He is buried in the Cassino War Cemetery in Italy and his name is engraved on the Harriston cenotaph. 

Michael Gaffney

Trooper Michael John Gaffney was the son of Felix Cuthbert and Mary Gertrude Brown Gaffney of Kenilworth.

He served in the 27th division of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment of the  Royal Canadian Armoured Corps.

Gaffney died of wounds sustained in combat on Aug. 12, 1944 and was memorialized in the Globe and Mail.

He was 23 years old. 

Gaffney is buried in the Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, about four kilometres from Juno Beach in Normandy, France.

His name is engraved on the Arthur cenotaph.   

Ashford Herbert Burrough

Rifleman Ashford Herbert Burrough served with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles. His parents were William Herbert and Emma Burrough of Palmerston. 

He died on Dec. 12, 1944, and is buried in the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands.  

Herbert Burrough’s name is engraved on the Palmerston cenotaph. 

John Burns Mallett

Sergeant John Burns Mallett was a flight engineer in the Royal Canadian Air Force who served in the 57 Royal Air Force Squadron. 

His parents were Frederick Thomas Mallett and Mary Luella Burns Mallett of Palmerston. 

John was 24 years old when he died. 

He is buried in the Scampton St. John the Baptist Churchyard in Lincolnshire, England and his name is engraved on the Palmerston cenotaph. 

Ross Gardiner 

Leading Aircraftman Ross Ernest Gardiner was from Mount Forest and served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. 

He was married to Elizabeth Patricia Gardiner (nee Armstrong), and his parents were Edgar Ernest and Bertha Matilda Gardiner. 

He died on Dec. 20, 1945. 

He is buried in the Brookwood Military cemetery in Surrey, England and his name is engraved on the Mount Forest cenotaph.  

Ray Colquhoun

Sergeant Ray Ormond Colquhoun was the son of Enos and Angeline Colquhoun of Moorefield. 

Colquhoun died on Feb. 11, 1942, and was memorialized in the Globe and Mail.  

He is buried in the Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey, England.

His name is engraved on the Drayton cenotaph. 

Russell Hall 

Corporal Russell Lloyd Hall served in the Royal Regiment of Canada in the Royal Canadian Infantry Core. 

He was married to Irene E. Hall, of Harrison, and his parents were George and Mary Hall. 

Hall died on Feb. 19, 1945, at 27 years old. 

He is buried in the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands. 

His name is engraved on the Harriston cenotaph.