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1206534
F/Lt. George W. Gardiner
Royal Canadian Air Force 429 Squadron
from:Petrolia, Ontario
My dad, George Gardiner was on his 23 mission on July 18th 1944 when his plane was hit from falling bombs from above Aircraft Halifax LW127. Went down 3 killed 3 POW's and 1 made it back to friendly lines. Phil Brunet was in the same camp and bunk house.
Additional Information:
I knew Phil Brunet well. We played a lot of chess together in his later years. That picture of the bomber with the missing tail fin is very familiar to me. Phil Brunet had a copy of it on a wall in his home. He told me that he was in that plane when the picture was taken and he was one of those who bailed out. When they were descending to the ground the Germans were shooting at them but when they landed they were taken captive. He originally directed me to a book in the Moncton library that contained that picture. Under it the caption read to the effect that the bomber managed to make it back to base but Mr. Brunet informed me that the caption was incorrect. The plane went down. In the picture above your father's ID card that may be Mr. Brunet 3rd from left and in the foreground of the one above it. I only knew him as an elderly gentleman but he was short in stature and that fellow in the pictures looks a lot like I'd have expected him to appear in his youth.