Gordon J. Darling
Gordon J. Darling
Embedded Files
Gordon Johnston Darling was born April 2, 1914 in Ottawa, Ontario. He attended Glebe Collegiate Institute, which means that he was of an upper class family because Glebe was one of the 2 collegiates in Ottawa at the time and the kids who attended collegiates were prepared for university. He attended Glebe for 6 years before graduating and going to university. Gordon was very active throughout his childhood playing many sports such as, Tennis, Skiing, Swimming, Rugby, Softball, Track, Hockey, Basketball, Golf all very extensively. After graduating from Glebe, Gordon went to Clarkson College of Technology in Potsdam, New York. He studied there for 2 years before moving back to Ottawa.
Image Left - Clarkson College of Technology
Image Right - Glebe Collegiate Institute
After working for a couple of years in financial adjustment, he decided to enlist in the military on the 12th of December 1941 to help protect his country. He joined the air force which meant that he was white with higher education. After a year of air force training, he left for overseas combat. Before leaving he got married to Marion Elizabeth Bower. He was sent overseas and not much was known about what he did over there. We do know that he participated in the North African Campaign, in the No.155 squadron doing missions for the allies (primarily the British commonwealth). The North African campaign was a campaign that was fought in north Africa and included campaigns fought in Libyan and Egyptian deserts, as well as Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The campaign was fought between allies primarily the British commonwealth and the Axis powers. Unsure of how he was killed, Darling's aircraft was found near Egypt.
Gordon enlisted in the Canadian army a few months after the war had begun. He trained in Hamilton and Ottawa he was trained to become a pilot or observer. The interviewing officer's opinion was that Darling was suitable for a commissioned rank,and that he would do well in training. He was specifically trained in celestial navigation, gunnery, signalling, field training, and musketry drill, instructing in last two. He was sent over to the front lines from Halifax in 1942, before leaving he got married to Mrs. Darling. Gordon was sent to fly missions over the Libyan and Egyptian deserts he also flew missions in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. Gordon flew a Super marine Spitfire aircraft a single person fighter plane, he was flying this aircraft because he was trained in single person aerial combat. From one fateful mission Gordon J Darling did not return. He was presumed missing and after a while presumed dead. His aircraft was found near Egypt. They did not recover the body.
Supermarine Spitfire aircraft
Lost on route from Gibraltar to India. The Official documents of Darlings death stated; Accident. Date: March 29th, 1945. Manner: Presumed killed during air operation. A letter from Sgt. B. E. Pinch was set to Squadron leader D. Winton of the No. 155 Squad. In this letter he stated, that on the first of December, 1943 he had met three pilots who had been in Cairo at the time that Sgt. Darling was lost. They had said that his air craft had been found and Mr. B. E. Pinch had sent a letter to Ms. Darling, but at this time he had said nothing about her husband.
Gordon J. Darling's body was never found, and he has no grave. Since he didn't have a proper burial, his name, along with thousands of others is inscribed on the Runnymede War Memorial in England.
World War II was a call to arms for the English commonwealth, it was the first war that Canada was in full control of their decisions. When the time came to act, Canada proved that they could help the rest of the world (commonwealth) just as much as the commonwealth had helped them. This carved Canada in the minds of the commonwealth and the world. Darling’s contribution was through flying air missions in the North African campaign and through joining the R.C.A.F. and the B.C.A.T.P. Canada’s participation included financially backing Britain and her colonies, and we also sent our troops over there (air force, navy, infantry) we participated in such battles as Dieppe, D-Day the Italian Campaign, Hong Kong etc. Gordon J. Darling like every other man woman and child that risked there life's, and in many cases gave there life's for our freedom will not be forgotten.
Figure 3.0 -Runnymede War Memorial, England
Gordon J. Darling
Gordon J. Darling
Gordon Johnston Darling était un pilote de l’ARC (aviation royale canadienne) respecté pendant la deuxième guerre mondiale, mais avant cela il était un étudiant ici à Glebe Collegiate Institute. Né le 2 avril 1914 à Ottawa, Gordon à grandi en vivant une vie confortable dans sa maison dans le quartier de Carling Avenue qu’on appel maintenant Glebe Avenue. Gordon vivait avec ses deux parents Alex et Mabel Darling, et sa sœur Audrey Darling. Gordon a assisté Glebe pendant 6 ans, et pendant son temps à l’école il a participé à de nombreuses équipes de sports en tant que l’équipe de tennis, ballon panier, rugby, soccer, nation, skiing et plusieurs autres sports. Il était décrit comme très athlétique, intelligent et confiant. Un autre passe-temps de Gordon était l'entraînement militaire. Entre les années qu’il était au secondaire, Gordon s’est inscrit aux forces armées canadiennes (armée, marine, aviation) 3 fois avant qu’il soit déployé à Halifax en tant que sergent de vol en 1942.
Glebe Collegiate Institute Yearbook 1928-1934
Gordon s' inscrit dans la force d’aviation canadienne le 9 Octobre 1941 et il est allé s'entraîner à Hamilton le 23 juillet 1941 où il a le rôle d'aviateur-chef (LAC). Après de nombreux entraînements et cours d’aviation, Gordon est devenu un pilote très prestigieux qui recevait plusieurs revues et commentaires de tous ses commandants. Le 3 Septembre 1942, Gordon a eu une promotion et est devenu sergent de section (FS). Avec tout son entraînement, ses bonnes caractéristiques et sa passion pour le combat, Gordon était près à se battre pour son pays, prêt à se prouver et faire ce qu'il était passionné depuis un jeune âge.
Gordon Darling était assigné à voler un cracheur de feu à l’Inde avec l’escadron N.155 de la campagne Nord Africaine, mais fut déclaré disparu le 29 Mars 1943. Sa famille avait l'esprit qu’il allait retourner, mais malheureusement son aéronef a été trouvé en Egypte, sans Gordon. Après quelque temps d'être porté disparu, au jeune âge de 28 ans il est déclaré mort, même si son corps n'était pas trouvé. A cause que son corps n'était pas trouvé, il n’avait pas eu sa propre tombe. Malgré le fait qu'il n’avait pas sa propre tombe, son nom était commémoré dans le mémorial de guerre aux “Mémorial des forces aériennes de Runnymede” en Angleterre. Malheureusement qu’il n’avait pas eu un carrière militaire remarquablement longue, il a encore dédié sa vie pour Canada et va être rappelé pour toutes ses braves actions.
Primary Source Documents retrieved from : https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/231805
Bibliography "Supermarine Spitfire." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 May 2012. Web. 06 Dec. 2012.
N.d. Photograph. Web.
"North African Campaign." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Apr. 2012. Web. 06 Dec. 2012.
Http://www.attreefamilyhistory.org/. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2012.
Http://ru.wikipedia.org/. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2012.
Edited by P.Towler
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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