Background Information  Service History   Death and Memorial Comments and Opinions List of Works Cited :

    

Background Information

 

      Robert Stuart Butterworth was born on May 25th 1918. He was the son of Ernest Butterworth and Agnes Butterworth in Ottawa, Ontario. He had hazel eyes, light brown hair and a fair complexion. He attended Glebe Collegiate Institute from 1932-1938, and went to Clarkson College tech., when he graduated from high school to study for a Degree of Bachelor of Business Administration. He was married to Georgina Best on December 2nd, 1943  in Ottawa Ontario. His son, Robert Stuart Butterworth Jr., was born on October 6th, 1944, and was 14 months old when his father died. Robert Stuart Butterworth seems to have been a very active person as he played hockey and football extensively and tennis and swimming occasionally. I could infer that he comes from a high status family, as he lived in an expensive area, and his father was a civil servant, also he had a degree in  Business Administration. Also, the fact that he comes form an Anglican background and his choice for being a pilot shows that he was of a high social status. My soldier was an active person before he enlisted, he was also in very good shape and health and military material. I would assume that he joined the military in order to represent his country, or since he was unemployed he may have joined the military for a job. He could have also joined for social pleasure, and to be socially accepted since at that time there was a lot of recruitment propaganda, and men who were army material and stayed at home were not as socially  accepted. There is also a possibility that he may have joined the army for the experience of flying a plane, which ordinary people at that time didn't really get to do.

 

 

Junior Football-E.O.S.S.A Champions

Glebe Collegiate yearbook, 1936, Robert Sturart Butterworth, middle front.

 

 

Senior Hockey Team, 1937, Robbert Stuart Butterworth  ,First on the left.

 

 

 

 

 

Senior Rugby Team, Glebe Collegiate yearbook, 1938

Robert Stuart Butterworth, in the front middle.

 

 

Senior Hockey team in 1938. 

Robert Stuart Butterworth, Second last.

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  An ad that was in the Glebe Collegiate  Yearbook, in 1937, Butterworth attended this school after graduating from high school, Glebe Collegiate.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

 

       

 

Robert Stuart Butterworth mentioned as part of  the 1936 Swimming Champions, Glebe Collegiate Yearbook

 

 

 

 

 Service History

 

     Robert Stuart Butterworth trained in Canada for the first two years of his enlistment. I would assume that the training was difficult, as he had no experience before he enlisted and the training they had to do was challenging. In 1942 Butterworth became an aircrew member then after more training, he achieved the role of a pilot. Then, later on in 1943 he became a navigator, then finally an air bomber. He was awarded an A.B. badge in 1943 and a Canadian Volunteer Service Medal in 1944. I think that his service worried his family as they never knew when he would be back and if he would make it back safely. Also, since he got married a year after his enlistment , and his wife most likely gave birth while he was in the army, which would make it difficult for him and his wife. I can infer from the accounts that I have read about the life of air bombers, that it was not an easy job. They mostly took part in night operations, which were said to be the coldest, loneliest place in the sky, as the only noises they would hear other than the roaring sound of the engine was the distorted voices of other crew members (433 Squadron RCAF ww2). 

 

      At the time that Butterworth went over seas the Dieppe Raid had already happened and troops were participating in the D-Day preparations. The squadron that he worked for, Squadron 405, was involved in the No.6 RCAF group which took part in a bombing campaign that  destroyed German industry, diverted German personnel and material from other theatres of the war and constituted a second front long before D-Day, the Allied invasion of France on June 6, 1944 (The Second World War History).

 

 

   Crew of Lancaster PB451. Robert Stuart Butterworth, at age 26, Most likely the fourth person standing, in the back row. 

 

 

 

No. 405 "City of Vancouver" Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force.

 

 

 

 

Squadron 405 Badge

 

 

                                                   

 

  Death and Memorial

 

     Robert Stuart Butterworth was the pilot of a Lancaster, aircraft NO.P.B.451 when he died. On March 19 1945, PB451 was airborne 0132 from Gransden Lodge in England to Witten, Germany, from which it failed to return.(Veterans Affairs Canada). An investigation shows that on that day two planes crashed at Merklinde, about four miles west of Dortmund in Germany, in an apparent mid air collision (ACT Memorial). They were on a mission to bomb oil refineries at Witten in the Ruhr valley. (ACT Memorial). Butterworth died when he was 26 years aftre serving for three years in the military. Him, along with his crew were buried in the Rheinberg War Cemetery, in Germany (CWGC).

 

 

 

 

 

                                            Robert Stuart Butterworth, in the Book of Rememberance.

 

 

 

                                                          Memorial in Reighnberg War Cemetery.

 

 

 

 

                                Robert Stuart Butterworth, Buried at Rheinberg War Cemetery, Germany. 

                                           Photograph and details by volunteer/s: TWGPP Volunteers

 

Comments and Opinions

 

     In my opinion my soldier had an important role in the war, and represented our country well. "For many Canadians, the Lancaster bomber was a symbol of victory."(The Second World War History). Although our Canadian soldiers did not take part in as many land battles, they contributed what they could to represent our country, and for that, as Canadians, we should be proud.

 

List of Works Cited :

 

•  "433 Squadron RCAF ww2 ." The WHP Family. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2012.  
• "The Second World War" | History | History | Royal Canadian Air Force | DND/CF ." Royal Canadian Air Force. National Defense, The Government of Canada, 7 Sept. 2011. Web. 2 May 2012.
• "Photo Collection - Veterans Affairs Canada." Veterans Affairs Canada . N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2012.  
• "ACT Memorial - Viewing Person."ACT Memorial. N.p., 5 Aug. 2008. Web. 2 May 2012.  
• "CWGC - Casualty Details." CWGC . N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2012.