David Edward Crockatt

David Edward Crockatt was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on the 2nd of June, 1921. He was born to Grace V. MacFarlane and Herman Wallace Crockatt, and he had one brother, Robert. After completing some of his education in Ottawa, first at Hopewell Avenue Public School and then at Glebe Collegiate Institute, he moved to Vancouver, B.C. and attended King Edward High School. Throughout his schooling, he trained as a metal worker for 3 years. He was always described as a hardworking man, and though not permanently employed he had previously worked at a broker’s office entering quotations. Mr. Crockatt was a tall man, reaching 6 feet two inches by the age of 18, with a ruddy complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He was athletic and swam recreationally.

Mr. Crockatt’s career in the military began on the 24th of July, 1939, when he enlisted at the Headquarters Squadron R.C.A.F. in Vancouver, B.C. Before being sent to training school, he stayed in barracks in Vancouver. During this time, he applied to spend some of his nights to remaster as a machinist and finish his Junior Matriculation, a general certification for a person working in a trade. Though it is not clear whether he was successful in this, he began his training as a member of the air force in Regina at the No. 2 Initial Training School in August of 1941. In March of 1942, he was sent to Halifax with the Airforce and began courses as a pilot. In May and June of that year, after a visit to the Progress Report Committee to evaluate his abilities, he moved to the Advanced Flying Unit as a pilot. This would lead him to be moved through several squadrons until he was finally assigned to the 405 Squadron in January of 1943.

David Edward Crockatt was the captain of a Halifax aircraft JB920 with the 405 Squadron of the R.C.A.F. He was a brave soldier who fought hard in the Second World War.  The aircraft in which Mr. Crockatt flew was a bomber. Unfortunately, on the night of April 26, 1943, he and his crew of seven others were on a flight to Duisberg, Germany for operations, presumably bombings. During the Second World War, Duisburg was a heavily bombed city as it was an industrial center. It would go on to be bombed several more times throughout the war. On this night while flying over enemy territory, he went missing. Him and his crew were shot down, and it is not known what happened to them after. Through letters to Mr. Crockatt’s family, it was speculated that he might have been taken as a prisoner of war. However, after no word from Crockatt, he was officially declared dead on May 11th 1943. He was buried in North Military Cemetery, Dusseldorf, Section 3B, plot IX, row D, grave 6. As he was a bomber in the R.C.A.F, he name is also inscribed into the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB, an exhibit at an aviation museum which commemorates those who died serving with a Bomber Command Squadron.

'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.