William Stewart Bonell
William Stewart Bonell
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William Stewart Bonell was born on July 15th 1919 in Buckingham, Quebec. He lived on 72 Paterson ave Ottawa, Ontario. His father was William Albert Bonell and his mother was Caroline Stewart. He married Jean Patricia on April 10th, 1943 in Ottawa. He was 69 inches tall and 180 lbs, he was athletic and physically developed. He was described as a kind capable person who was well fit for the army.
William was a part of the R.C.A.F. (royal canadian air force) in squadron 514 as an air bomber, he flew an Avro Lancaster 11, his service number was J24522. His occupation before joining the military was a clerk. William graduated from Glebe collegiate and enlisted right away to the R.C.A.F. in September 1939. He first served at A.F.H.Q. (air force headquarters) before retraining to be an air bomber in July 1942, he graduated with his commission to be an air bomber in March 1943. He then served as an instructor at Mossbank Saskatchewan. The next September he went overseas where his military career was cut short.
William Stewart Bonell is suspected to have died on July 30th 1944 (when he was reported missing), he was 25 at the time. He went missing overseas along with his whole crew who were lost at sea on a bombing raid on Caen. Over one third of the soldiers who died in the air force have no grave. 20,450 men who have no grave are commemorated at Runnymede Memorial. William is one of these men, he is commemorated on panel 245 at Runnymede in Surrey, United Kingdom. His name can also be found on his parents grave located at Beechwood cemetery, Ottawa, as well he is commemorated on the bomber command memorial wall in Nanton, Alberta.
Primary Source Documents :https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/1530068?William%20Stewart%20Bonell
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1530068/william-stewart-bonell/
https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/202590/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/179114591/william-albert-bonell
The biographies appearing on this website have been written by students, roughly the same age as the soldiers they are studying, using primary source evidence from Library and Archives Canada, in addition to primary source documents from The Virtual War Memorial on veterans.ca. We welcome any corrections or additions you may have to these biographies.
'If we do preserve it, we honour them, and when we in our turn pass on, we will know that behind us lives a generation of free men and of free women to be the keepers of this great heritage of ours - Canada.'
- Ian A. McPhee, former student at GCI, 1937.
Glebe Collegiate Institute
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
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