John Robert Lee was born in Caledonia, Ontario, the son of John Thomas and Mary Lee. He grew up in a close family and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force on August 14, 1942, at Hamilton, Ontario. After his training in Canada, he was sent overseas to Great Britain, where he served as a Pilot Officer and air gunner with 424 Tiger Squadron, whose motto was Castigandos Castigamus — “Chastise those deserving.”
On December 6, 1944, he took part in a night bombing mission against Osnabrück, Germany, flying in Halifax NP945. The aircraft was shot down near Geleto, Germany. John Robert Lee, together with Flying Officer David Louis McCullough and Pilot Officer John Lightfoot Keown, was killed in action. Four other crew members survived and were taken prisoner, later returning to the United Kingdom. John was only twenty years old.
He was first buried in the New Cemetery at Lingen/Ems, Germany. In 1946 his remains were exhumed and reburied in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Germany, where his grave is cared for in perpetuity by the Imperial War Graves Commission.
After his death, his parents received official letters of sympathy from the RCAF, along with the Memorial Cross and his personal belongings. Among them were photographs, correspondence, souvenirs, a silver RCAF wing brooch, and small items he had carried during his service. These possessions, returned to his family, offer a glimpse of him not only as a serviceman but as a young man who valued memories, symbols, and his connection to home.
Today, his name lives on in the registers of the Canadian Virtual War Memorial and on his headstone at Reichswald. More than a name on a list, John Robert Lee is remembered as a son, a comrade, and a young man who gave his life in the service of freedom. By telling his story, we give him a face and a place in our collective memory. 🌿
John Lightfoot “Jack” Keown was born on March 16, 1919, in Boissevain, Manitoba, the son of Robert Winfred and Margaret Keown. He grew up in a family where several sons served at the same time: his twin brother Robert fought with the R.C.A. in the Netherlands, Fred served in Italy, and Howard was also in the Netherlands. His sister, Mrs. C.E. Johnston of Ninga, Manitoba, later received the telegram reporting him missing.
Jack worked as a farmer before enlisting in the Winnipeg Grenadiers in October 1940. In 1941 he transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force, training as an air gunner. In 1943 he remustered to air crew, and in May 1944 he went overseas, joining 424 (Tiger) Squadron, whose motto was Castigandos Castigamus. On December 1, 1944, he received his commission as Pilot Officer.
On the evening of December 6, 1944, at 8:30 p.m., his aircraft was shot down near Geleto, Bentheim, Germany, during a raid on Osnabrück. Jack and two comrades were unable to escape. Their bodies were buried on December 9, 1944, at 9:00 a.m. in the New Cemetery at Lingen on the Ems River. In 1950, they were reinterred in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, three miles southwest of Kleve, Germany, in a collective grave (Plot 16, Row F, Graves 5/6).
Jack was 25 years old when he lost his life. His parents received the Memorial Cross, his Operational Wings, and his personal effects. He was posthumously awarded the Royal Canadian Air Force Operational Wings for gallantry in action against the enemy. His name endures in registers, on his headstone, and in the memory of those who honor him. He was a son, a brother, a farmer who became an airman, and a young man who gave his life in the service of freedom.