James Kelleher Player

James Kelleher Player was born July 6th, 1919 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Shortly after his birth, he and his father (William Player), mother (Bridget Kelleher) and sister (Marjorie Player) all moved to Ottawa, where they stayed at 65 Renfrew Avenue, right here in the Glebe. He was an athletic child growing up, and although he was relatively small (5”9, 147 lbs), he played football, rugby, basketball and tennis for Glebe’s high school sports teams. During his studies at Glebe, he worked as a freight agent at Union station as well as working at Loblaws. As a kid and throughout high school, James loved to build and fly model airplanes, which sparked his interest in joining the Air Force once he graduated high school in 1941.

Before enlisting in the Air Force, James worked as a freight agent at Union Station in Ottawa. He enlisted in regiment no. R-74360 the 25th of October, 1941, in Ottawa, ON. He completed his training February 2nd, 1941. Throughout his time in the military, he transferred posts several times. The majority of his time in the Air Force was spent in Toronto, however, he was also stationed in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Halifax for brief periods. He was hospitalized more than 5 times throughout his career in the military, all at the same hospital and all in 1941, for minor injuries.  On the 1st of January, 1942, James was promoted to Sergeant. He was deployed April 25th, 1942, on a mission to seize the city of Hamburg, Germany. He was likely involved in the Bombing of Hamburg, which was a collection of airstrikes targeting shipyards, U-Boat pens and oil refineries located in the city of Hamburg.

The night of November 11th, 1942, James and 5 other fellow soldiers were ordered to bomb the city of Hamburg. Unfortunately, at some point throughout the mission, his plane was shot down, killing him and all 5 of his soldiers. His body was never found. An investigation was opened in Paris about his death, but where he died and how he died remains unknown to this day. It is presumed he was shot down near Hamburg. He was pronounced dead the following day on November 12th, 1942. Prior to his death, he had requested for his personal case and legal will be sent back home to his sister and mother in the Glebe. His legacy remains prominent to this day, and he will be remembered.

James Kelleher Player was posthumously awarded several medals and awards, such as the Atlantic Star (awarded to soldiers who participated in the Battle of the Atlantic), the Defence Medal (awarded to British and Commonwealth forces that served in non-operational areas for varying amounts of time), the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal (awarded to people of any rank in the Naval, Military or Air Forces of Canada who voluntarily served on Active Service throughout WWII), and finally, the 1939-45 Star (awarded to British Commonwealth soldiers who served more than 60 days in the Air Force throughout WWII). 

Newspaper Clipping – From the Ottawa Citizen. Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me

'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.