Edson Armour (photo 1st Hussars Museum, via Mr J Rudland).
Navigator Edson Armour was the son of William and Pearl Lillian (nee Herron) Armour of Sheridan Street, Brantford, Ontario, Canada, he was an only child and was born on 4th January 1917 in Brantford. In his early life Edson graduated from the Brantford Collegiate Institute from 1939 to 1935, where he distinguished himself as a good student and a promising public speaker. 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. He then studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, USA where he studied for Mechanical Engineering Degree from 1935 to 1939. During the flood of 1936 he assisted the Red Cross greatly in rescuing homeless victims. He would later married Winnifred May Matthews in November 1939 in Brantford and they had a young son, Ralph in 1940, they lived on Alfred Street in Brantford, Ontario.
Edson Armour's flying career was two fold. He was three and a half years into the Mechanical Engineering Degree when he enlisted for RCAF service. He initially applied to join the RCAF by letter in October 1939 but appears to have been unsuccessful (or a reply was not forthcoming) so he then re-applied to enlist for RCAF service for flying duties on 10th June 1940 but at that time was deemed suitable only for ground duties due to a medical condition. He had begun working for his father's buisness designing heating systems during college holidays and in the period between enlisting and being called up for service. Having re-mustered to ground duties and being technically qualified he received a commission to the rank of F/O on 28th March 1941 (non-flying). He served as officer in charge of operations at an anti-submarine RCAF base at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. His wife and son were able to live with him at Dartmouth. He was promoted to Acting F/Lt on 1st May 1942. During his time at Dartmouth he did not fly, which in some respects this job would have been an easy one but he had wanted to fly and serve overseas so he re-mustered back to aircrew on 24th October 1942. He trained as a navigator at London, Ontario at No.4 AOS and qualified as a navigator on 19th February 1943. Having re-mustered to aircrew when he graduated he was re-graded to the rank of P/O on the "General List" on 19th February 1943, he would have had to do this in order to fly. He was then posted to the UK to continue his training, arriving in the UK in March 1943 he firstly trained at 4 (O)AFU beginning 15th March 1943, 23 OTU at Pershore, Worcestershire beginning 22nd June 1943, 1659 HCU at Topcliffe beginning 28th September 1943 and was then posted to 434 Squadron 26th October 1943 with his crew. He would become known to his crew as "The Old Man", at twenty seven years old when he was killed he was by far the eldest member of the crew, this was a sad fact of war but he was 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.
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 parent's deaths. As of March 2006 when this webpage was originally created, Edson Armour's widow was 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 wives 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.
A similar letter to this would have been sent to every airmen killed as a result of operational flying in the UK.
I thank Edson Armour's son, Mr Ralph Armour, for firstly contacting me regarding his father and then for the vast amount 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 mother's 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. Mrs Armour died in 2014, aged 97. The Canadian Veteran Affairs website state that his final operational flight was his 21st over Europe, given that I have copies of his logbook entries this I must dispute figure.