John Edwin Gardiner
John Edwin, Gardiner was born in Lemberg, Saskatchewan, on July 8th 1919. He was 5 foot 10 and weighed around 137 pounds. He was mature, confident and pleasant. He lived on 211 Clemow Ave Glebe and went to Glebe Collegiate Institute for 4 years before graduating to University of Toronto, studying in Aerial Navagation for only 1 year before being enlisted to serve at war. He had a father named James Garfield Gardiner and a mother named Christie Violet Gardiner. He was single at the time of his enlistment and only spoke English, he did quite a lot of sports including Track, Softball, Baseball, Basketball and many more.
When John got enlisted he was studying at the University of Toronto but had to leave one year later because of the war. He enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, on November 19th 1940, and was enlisted to the Royal Canadian Air Force. He most likely enlisted to the RCAF because he already had experience flying planes since he studied Aerial Navigation for 1 year. He fought in the battle of Dieppe with a partner flying the plane but the both lost their lives during the battle.
On August 19th, 1942, John Edwin Gardener went missing and was presumed dead. Edwin and his partner were killed during Operation Jubilee in the Dieppe Raid and buried together in the St. Aubin-Le-Cauf Churchyard, Seine-Maritime, France, near where they died. They are the only Canadians buried in the little cemetery 5 miles south of Dieppe.
OHN EDWIN GARDINER – Edwin and Wilfrid (back row), Florence, Violet, Beth and Rt Hon. James Gardiner. Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
Work Cited
Government du Canada. “Gardiner, John Edwin.” Collection search, Government of canada, 9 March 2019, https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/home/record?app=kia&IdNumber=12533. Accessed 25 October 2023
John Edwin Gardiner - The Canadian Virtual War Memorial - Veterans Affairs Canada, https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2689068?John%20Edwin%20Gardiner. Accessed 25 October 2023
The biographies appearing on this website have been written by gr 10 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.
This biography was written in November of 2023.
'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
