Death of an air gunner

Ron McLean loved the great outdoors, and was going to become a bush pilot after returning home from the Second World War.

But the North Bay-born wireless operator/air gunner, pictured above, never made it back, being killed in action in France at 21, June 30, 1943.

“Sixteen Wellington bombers went out over the Bay of Biscayne for submarine patrols but only fifteen came back, and my brother was on the one that didn’t,” said Dorothy Kenney, one of McLean’s seven sisters.

“The entire crew perished.”

To commemorate her brother’s death, Kenney laid a wreath at Memorial Gardens Tuesday as part of Forever Remembered, the Remembrance Day service organized by the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 23.

“Losing him was just the hardest thing to go through,” said Kenney following the service, during an interview at her Gladstone Avenue home.

“He was such a lively person, he just loved sports, hunting and fishing. He had lots of friends, all sports people, hunters and fisherman, and he was outgoing, a real man's man. I guess he’d had enough of the sisters at home, but we’ll never know what he would have thought of his sisters today.”

Did normal boy things
Ron was the only son of Herb and Ethel McLean, and the family lived on Laurier Street.

“It was a good family life,” Kenney said.

McLean attended Brooks Street School, Kenney said, before going on to North Bay Collegiate and Vocational Institute.

“He did the normal boy things, delivered papers, played rugby and hockey, and we used to go skate at the Sid Tompkins rink,” Kenney said.

“In the summers there was always a baseball game going on somewhere and Ron would even let his sisters play too.”

As well, Kenney said, her brother and his friend Moe Raycraft would use boards and skates to make their own ice boats, and go out on frozen Lake Nipissing to use them.

Remembers last ever conversation
War broke out while McLean was at NBCVI, and he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and became a member of the 407 Demon Squadron, originally formed in 1941 as the 407 Coastal strike squadron.

McLean was stationed in Nova Scotia, where his squadron flew submarine patrols along the Atlantic coastline and up the St. Lawrence River.

Kenney remembers her last ever conversation with McLean.

“They had just received their embarkation notice to go overseas and he said ‘don’t tell mom about it, I’ll tell her myself.’ I didn’t, and he did call her.”

The family did receive a telegram from McLean before his death.

“Though I am far away my heart is with you today as always, Ronny,” the telegram states.

“That shows you what kind of a person he was,” Kenney said.

Memory enshrined in war memorial
Although she doesn’t know the exact circumstances, Kenney said McLean’s plane was shot down by enemy fire.

“It was so hard and devastating for my parents,” Kenney said.

“I know my mother used to say ‘Oh when they liberate France Ron will come home,’ or he’d come back when they liberated some other place.”

But even when McLean was officially declared dead, Kenney said, “it didn’t make it any easier because for some reason or other they still thought he would make it back.”

McLean’s body was never recovered, although his memory is enshrined in the Royal Air Forces Memorial, in Runnymede, Surrey, England, and as part of a war memorial in Ottawa, Kenney said.

As well, Kenney's mother received the Silver Cross, a medal presented to all Canadian mothers whose children were killed in action during the war. Tuesday, Kenney represented Silver Cross mothers of the North Bay area at the Remembrance Day service.

Similarities to him
Kenney, who also has seven children, said she’s tried telling them about their long-departed uncle.

“I talk to them about Ron and they don’t know who I’m talking about, but the funny thing is I can see similarities to him coming out in my children,” Kenney said.

“All these years have gone by and I still miss my brother.”