Hunter, William Langenbeck

Date of birth:: May 4th, 1922 (Morden/Manitiba, Canada)
Date of death:: November 22nd, 1943 (Diever/Drenthe, Nederland)
Buried on:: Commonwealth War Graves Diever
Plot: E. Row: 5. Grave: 3.
Service number:: J/86851
Nationality:: Canadian

Biography

William Langenbeck Hunter was born in Morden Manitoba on 4 May 1922, the son of Matthew Hunter (Irish) and Frieda Hunter-Langenbeck (American) from Regina Saskatchewan. They were married in Battleford Saskatchewan.

He was a university student and a member of the Church of England. His sports were tennis, rugby and baseball.
He enlisted in Regina on 13 December 1941 and received the Pilot's Flying Badge in Canada on 5 February 1943. He embarked at New York on 9 March 1943 and disembarked back in the UK on 17 March 1943. After arriving in the UK, he took part in several air operations of his squadron to NW Europe.

William died on Monday 22 November 1943 aged 21 while on a mission to Berlin. Their Halifax bomber LW231 VR-F had taken off that evening from RAF Middleton St George for a mission to Berlin and was shot at by a German night fighter. The aircraft crashed burning in the “Staatsbossen” near Diever killing all crew members.

The other crew members killed were Sgt George A. Howitson, age 21, Plot E. Row 5. Coll. grave 4-7, WWII Joseph A. Lesage, age 22, Plot E. Row 5. grave 1, Sgt George A. May, age 19, Plot E. Row 5. grave 2, F/Sgt Malcolm A. McKellar, age 20, Plot E. Row 5. Coll. grave 4-7 and F/O Richard J. Newman, age 21, Plot E. Row 5. Coll. grave 4-7 (all RCAF) and Sgt Wilbert B. Jones, age 18, Plot E. Row 5. Coll. grave 4-7 (RAFVR)

His headstone reads 'AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER HIM'.

He was posthumously honoured with the RCAF Operational Wings and Certificate of gallant services in action against the enemy on 30 April 1947. His father was awarded The Memorial Bar in January 1946.

The names of the crew are inscribed on a monument at the crash site in the woods near Diever.

He served with the 419 Sqdn Royal Canadian Air Force.

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