WARTIMES.ca

Now here is a real mystery.

In the book They Shall Grow Not Old is an entry:

Richard, Charles Urbain AC2 R89726. From Arichat, Nova Scotia. Died Apr. 18/41. Recruiting Centre, Hamilton, Ontario. AC2 Richard was on leave without pay when he died of natural causes while in the General Hospital at Niagaar Falls, Ontario. AirCraftman Second Class Richard is buried at Arichat, Nova Scotia.

Problem is, there is no record of AC2 C.U. Richard. Not in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, or the Canadian Virtual War Memorial, or Library and Archives Second World War Service Files War Dead section.

Possibly AC2 Richard applied to the RCAF, but died before he was enlisted.

Curious.

All the Best,

Paul
Wetaskiwin

Question Paul,

"Possibly AC2 Richard applied to the RCAF, but died before he was enlisted."

If AC2 Richard was waiting to join, would they have given him a personnel number and rank prior to enlisting ? and why the unpaid leave ?

I know all services work a bit different, so I am only asking to try to understand the RCAF way of doing things.

Hope all is well !

George