Hugh Francis (Frank) Hegarty was born in Culdaff, Ireland on August 23, 1917 in Donegal, Ireland. He was the son of Hugh Hegarty (born in Carea Donagh) and Catherine (nee Greene, born in Culdaffs Donegal) Hegarty, both from Ireland. Hugh had three sisters: Kathleen (born 1900), Mary Bridget (born 1906) and Margaret. He also had one brother, Mike, and two half brothers, Bernard and James Hegarty. Hugh came to Canada when he was just seven years old. He arrived at a port in Quebec in 1924, with his mother aboard the passenger ship Saturnia.

The Hegarty family resided at 417 Confederation Street, then 279 Rose Street, Sarnia during the war years. Hugh was a member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Parish, Sarnia. Hugh went on to graduate from Sarnia Collegiate High School and was well known in Sarnia, having been a mechanic at Sarnia Sports’ Shop and later working at Keelans. Single at the time, Hugh Hegarty enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force on September 7, 1940. Hugh Hegarty was a member of RCAF #407 Demon Squadron “To Hold On High”, flying a Hudson aircraft AN586 as a Pilot Officer-Pilot. He and his squadron arrived overseas just one month prior to Hugh’s death. Based out of a North Sea Coast bombing post, they were engaged in raiding German positions in the Netherlands.

On October 10, 1941, on a wet and blustry night, he and his crew were flying a Hudson Bomber “T for Tommy” for anti-shipping patrol off the Dutch coast, carrying 4 X 250 lb. bombs. The plane failed to return and they were presumed killed during the flying operation. Their plane and crew was the first loss sustained by the #407 Demon Squadron coastal command, and the first plane reported missing from an R.C.A.F. coastal command in Britain. Also on board the aircraft was another Sarnian. Flight-sergeant Charles John Frederick McCrum was the son of Mr. and Mrs. H.U. McCrum of Ottawa. The family, including Charles McCrum, had resided in Sarnia for several years, where Charles attended Sarnia Collegiate. Charles McCrum’s father was the former chief inspector for the Canadian Immigration Service in Sarnia, and the family had moved to Ottawa only a few years earlier when Mr. McCrum was transferred to the capital.

The Hudson Bomber with Hugh Hegarty and its crew was never found. It was not until June of 1942 that

Pilot Officer Hugh Hegarty would be listed as, Previously reported missing after flying operations, now for official purposes, presumed dead, overseas. Perishing with Pilot Officer-Pilot Hugh Hegarty were FS. Don S. Mather; Sgt. C.J. McCrum; Flying Officer J.W. Renwick (RAF); and Sgt. Billy Smith (RAF). Pilot Officer-Pilot Hugh Hegarty has no known grave. In June 8th of 1942, a requiem high mass was celebrated at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Sarnia for Hugh Hegarty. Twenty-four year old Hugh Hegarty has his name inscribed on the Runnymede War Memorial, United Kingdom, Panel 59. On the Sarnia cenotaph, his name is inscribed as H.F. Haggerty.

The following is a newspaper account of the night on which the aircraft of which Hugh Francis Hegarty was a crew member went missing (Hamilton Spectator, October 31, 1941 by Douglas Amaron, Canadian Press);

RAID BY CANADIAN SQUADRON ENDS WITH ONE PLANE LOST

“T For Tommy” Does Not Return After Attack on French Coast

Is Awaited in Vain

 Darkness settled down over the air field as the last plane took off for the Netherlands coast. It was a cold night, with the salty rain blowing in from the North Sea, and Flight-Lieut. C.M. Warren, of Toronto, medical officer of the Royal Canadian Air Force coastal command squadron at the station, was bundled up like an Eskimo in a fur-lined flying jacket.

“You can’t keep too warm on a job like this,” he said. “I have to be here until after midnight and it can get mighty cold at that time of night.”

 The Canadians, grounded all the previous week because of even worse flying conditions, were out almost in full force. Some were over the Netherlands coast looking for Nazi shipping, some were on cross-country training flights, and some were practicing night landings.

 In the distance searchlights played against the low-hanging clouds and the sound of a gun brought the station defence crew to their sand-bagged posts. Flashes of anti-aircraft fire several miles away light the sky.

 There were German planes in the area, but no one paid much attention to them. Raids in that district are almost a nightly affair and only a handful of people stayed out in the cold to watch the fireworks display which lasted less than 20 minutes.

P.O. Bill Cameron, of Vancouver, brought his plane down for the night after a half dozen landings and muttered a few unkindly words about ground defences. He had flown through the barrage area and almost caught some of the shells meant for Nazi raiders.

 “Damned indecent of them,” he said as he landed. “They told me there was an enemy craft about so I followed him in. Then what did they do but fire at me. A fellow isn’t safe anywhere these days.”

 More planes came back – P.O. Bill Shankland, of Vancouver, from a landing practice, P.O. John McCulloch, of Point

Pleasant, West Va., from a cross country flight, and P.O. Bob Wadds, of Toronto, from a flight over the North Sea.

 “T for Tommy,” with P.O. Frank Hegarty, of Sarnia, Ont., at the controls, and Sergts. Don Mather, of North Gower, Ont., and C.J.F. McCrum, of Ottawa, and an R.A.F. pilot officer in his crew, was the next plane due back.

An hour went by and there was no word from it. Sergt. Pilots Bob Mullen, of Ganora, Sask., and J.K. Abbott, of Montreal, arrived almost together. They too had seen nothing but the night, and had heard nothing of “T for Tommy.”

P.O. Dale Cowperwaite, of Toronto, came in next after being reported several miles off course. “T for Tommy” was two hours overdue.

 “A lousy night,” Cowperwaite said. “The wireless went haywire, my lights went out, ‘George’ the automatic pilot wasn’t working, the compass went off. In fact the only thing that worked was the engines. And we didn’t see anything either.”

The crews huddled around a big kitchen stove, drinking hot tea, eating meat pies and cursing the blackness of the night – one of the few on which they had returned with nothing to report.

 Outside, Flight-Lieut. Warren stood on the edge of the darkened field beside his ambulance. The rain still beat down and the cold wind whistled around the low-lying buildings beside the sea.

 There was still no word from “T for Tommy.”

They waited another hour – Cameron, Shankland, McCulloch, Wadda, Mullen, Abbott, Cowperwaite and the crews, and Warren. Then, wearily and saying few words, they piled into their transport and drove slowly through the blackout to the operations room to turn in their reports.

 These were brief and to the point and the briefest was in the space reserved for three young Canadians and an Englishman. There, for the first time since the squadron was formed, went down the one word – “missing.”

“T for Tommy” didn’t come home.

SOURCES: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, K, L, M, N, 2C, 2D, c