Edson Armour (photo 1st Hussars Museum, via Mr J Rudland).
Navigator Edson Armour was the son of William and Pearl Armour of Brantford, Ontario, Canada, he was an only child. He was married to Winnifred and they had a young son, Ralph, they lived on Alfred Street in Brantford, Ontario. In his early life he graduated from the Collegiate Institute, where he distinguished himself as a good student and a promising public speaker, he began a mechanical engineering course at the Carnegie Institute of Technology at Pittsburgh, Pa. During the flood of 1936 he assisted the Red Cross greatly in rescuing homeless victims. As a young man he was interested in the Young People's Society of Sydenham Street United Church, being one of its outstanding Presidents, where he would later marry. Edson Armour flying career was two fold, he had initially served in Canada, he enlisted into the RCAF in 1939, but did not begin training until June 1940. In May 1942 he was promoted to the rank of flight lieutenant and became the C.O. of an anti-submarine base at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, where he lived with his wife and son for a year or two. Around March 1941 he then took the brave step of re-mustering, dropping rank and training as aircrew to go overseas. At his time at Dartmouth he did not fly, which in some respects this job would have been an easy one. He had reached the rank of F/Lt in Canada but referted to the rank of P/O so he could go overseas. He went through training and was later posted to the U.K. He trained at 4 AOS, London, Ontario from the 25th October 1942 to the 19th February 1943. He then trained at 4 (O) AFU, and then was posted to 23 OTU, at Pershore, Worcestershire, where one assumes the main part of his crew formed. He would become known to his crew as "The Old Man", at 27 years old when he was killed he was by far the eldest member of the crew, a sad fact of war but still no age. He was buried alongside the other Canadian members of his crew and with nearly 1000 other Commonwealth aircrew at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. The Canadian Veteran Affairs website state that his final operational flight was his 21st over Europe, this I must dispute.
Following their deaths I understand that members of the Evans, Ballentine and Armour families did keep in touch for a period but this ceased upon their parents deaths. As of March 2006, Edson Armour's wife is alive and well in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, as is Ralph Armour in White Rock, British Columbia, Canada.
Edson Armour and his young son Ralph (Photo Mr Ralph Armour).
Edson, Ralph and Winnifred Armour (Photo Mr Ralph Armour).
The headstone of Edson Armour at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Edson Armour's medals. Both Crosses given to wifes and mothers are still known to be in the family.
Edson Armour's obituary (photos Mr Ralph Armour).
The following very moving series of letters were written by Edson Armour on the day he was posted to 434 Squadron in October 1943, these show the fear of death that he and other bomber crews must have had, knowing their safe return home was unlikely at this stage in the War and their survival was improbable. I have been asked by the Armour family to show these letters on this website to give them greater exposure and to allow younger generations to be able to read and understand these hopes and fears. It is my pleasure to be able to do this here. After writing them Edson gave them to family in the south of England with instructions for them to be sent home to Canada after a month of him being listed as missing.
The letter to his wife.
The letter to his son.
I am endebted to Edson Armour's son, Mr Ralph Armour for firstly contacting me regarding his father and then for the vast ammount of information and documents he has been willing to share with me for my research and for allowing many to be included in this website. It is his and his mothers wish that these items shown above, however personal in nature they may be, to be shown to the general public. It is my pleasure to be able to do this for Edson Armour's family.