209227 F/O. John Milton McLay Royal Canadian Air Force 432 Squadron from:Lion's Head, Ontario, Canada (d.28th Apr 1944) Flying Officer John McLay was my father's cousin. My father told me about him when I was a child. He was in the RCAF and served as a navigator on bombers. He was shot down and killed in 1944 and that's all I knew about him until I started to research him and his war service.
I know almost nothing about John’s childhood. He was born and grew up in Lion’s Head, Ontario. It is a very small village about 150 miles north of Toronto and surrounded by mainly farmland and to the east Georgian Bay.
John enlisted in the RCAF in 1939 and was promoted to Flying Officer after his training. He was part of 432 squadron and was flying in Halifax BIII bombers in 1944. On the night of April 27 1944, 432 Squadron along with 419, 431, and 434 Squadrons were tasked with bombing the railroad marshalling yards at Montzen, Belgium. After midnight on the 28th April, John’s Halifax was attacked by a German nightfighter piloted by Major Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer aka. The Night Ghost of St. Trond. His Halifax crashed near Verviers, Belgium. John is buried at Heverlee War Cemetery Belgium.
John McLay’s aircraft, Halifax BIII number MZ588 call sign QO-W was brand new to the squadron and this was it’s first and only combat mission. I do not know how many mission my father’s cousin flew. Of course I never knew him but I would have liked to have known him.
|