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WOI. James Henry Munroe
Royal Canadian Air Force 299 Squadron
from:Ottawa, Canada
(d.6th June 1944)
For 74 years this hero among many was a lost man. He was but a name on a family tree, however a one line note in a paper file indicated that he had served, which has now led the family to research and be humbled by now knowing what a real man he was paying the supreme sacrifice on D-Day 6th of June 1944.
James Munroe enlisted while working at the Lord Elgin Hotel in Ottawa, Canada as a very fine looking 21 year old young man, with a wife who was eight months pregnant. He trained and trained as a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner and was posted overseas in 1943.
He and his six man crew (4 Canadians and 2 British) participated in Operation Mallard being in 299 Squadron along with 18 Stirling aircraft towing gliders carrying troops and equipment to reinforce embedded troops holding the bridges over the River Orne and Canal de Caen in France. His aircraft was the only one that did not make it home that day crashing into the ocean off the coast of France. Four bodies were recovered but two were not, his being one of two. He is now memorialized at Runneymeade, Air Forces Memorial, in the UK, as well as the Lord Elgin Hotel in Ottawa where on Remembrance Day 2018 a plaque will be unveiled to honor James and his fellows.
He left behind his wife and infant daughter and like all who served, like all who perished, as well as all who stayed home to allow these heroes to defend us all, we can never repay our debt. Let us never forget all those young lives lost on the alter of freedom in defence of Home and Country.
