Mystery picture found near site of Canadian plane crash in Wales...who is he?

[Jimson]

I'm not sure the Wellington memorial has been there since the war.  I don't remember seeing a memorial when I first went there in about 1950.  In the 60s or 70s there was a simple tag attached to a piece of the wreckage giving the names of the crew.  The present substantial memorial is rather more recent.  I think.

[J.J.]

I believe that having left the wreckage and the list of names would have been considered in itself a memorial at the time... It takes some money and time to come up with a plaque... The important thing is the remembrance and respect for these men.
There are so many crash sites in the world..I wonder if they all have something to remember the names of the fellows who lost their lives there...    
 

[J.J.]

  By the way, I never did mention...kudos to the Montreal Gazzette for
running the story. I was sure the local Wpg. Sun would rush it off to the
mother "Sun" in Quebec...and it was coming up to Nov. 11th... so a good
one to run across the nation... Eillo & I had all the information nicely
compacted and ready for edit should it need it...
...but they dropped the ball at the last minute and had a million excuses...
   Journalists have the last say in what makes a good story, I'm afraid...
Judging by the 17,090 hits that this posting has had to date....maybe they
might just be sorry now....heh,heh...

[Caroline_d]

JJ... thanks for the reminder about the Montreal Gazette, I don't think I had a link listed previously for the article.  I think it's too long to post here but the link is below if anyone wants to take a look.  It has information on the McGills project which could be of interest to others searching.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/saturdayextra/story.html?id=e232474a-ad99-472c-be52-6d3465a57312

[J.J.]

 
Sorry to hijack the thread once again Caroline but I have an update on the
fight with the Canadian War museum to change the plaque wording...Thanks
to all who wrote to the museum & Gov't bodies to help put pressure on them
to make this change! We are not allowed to join in this controversial debate
on rootschat so....
Please do NOT reply in this thread, but add any comments to the link I have
posted here, in Reply # 2...
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,222810.0.html

[dennford]

I just recieved an email and purely by mistake I opened it (I normally delete all emails from unknown scources),

I don't know who the writer (Bill Grey) is and can't find any mention of him on the thread. However he obviously has some interest in the mystery so her is the short message from him.

"Hi Dennis,

As one who has been  heavily involved over the last two years in giving
details, photos etc to both PhyllisBurns (nee Allison) and Wes Cross of
McGill University, I and others have studied the photograph together
with one or two of the crew photographs and have come to a calculated
guess that the unknown airman is the original navigator of MF 509 - viz
Gaston Carron

There is a photograph of Bill Allison and a sergeant studying a map near
the front of a Wellington, and in spite of the flying helmet, we are
convinced the sergeant is Gaston Carron.

The point is - where is Gaston Carron now, or whatever happened to him ?

I really wonder??

Regards,
--

Bill Grey"

Denn

[chinakay]

Just in case anyone's googling, it's Caron, not Carron.

Still think the photo is Villeneuve, though...the resemblance is really amazing.

Cheers,
China

[liverpool annie]

Denn !

Bill Grey is mentioned here !

http://www.archives.mcgill.ca/public/exhibits/mcgillremembers/allisonstory.htm

Annie 

PS Gaston Caron is a name in Quebec politics ..... !

[KarenM]

Has contact been made with the Villeneuve family?  A friend of ours has just been named as Jacques new race engineer for 2008.

Karen