Charles Henry Living was born in Halford, Saskatchewan on June 27, 1914, the oldest son of Charles William Robert and Viola Georgina (nee O’Day, born in Wisconsin) Living. The family resided in Holly Village, Oakland County, Michigan. Father Charles senior was a carpenter by trade. Charles Henry had two sisters–Georgina (1 year older than Charles) and Clara–and three younger brothers: Fred Stevenson (born 1921 in Alberta); Paul; and Reese. He resided for most of his boyhood in Holly, Michigan where he attended high school and later attended St.Michael’s College in Toronto. Charles then enrolled in Michigan State College, Lansing. Charles took up residence in Sarnia in 1938 and played football with the Sarnia Imperials, as a star snap and inside wing. Subsequently, he played football for the Toronto Argonauts prior to enlisting.
Charles enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in May 1940 at Toronto. He received most of his training in Eastern Canada, and was awarded his wings and commission in a ceremony in Hagersville in May 1941. He would marry Miss Mary Alyce Wocker of Sarnia, on April 17, 1943. They would reside at George Street, Sarnia, and later 135 North Broad Street, Holly, Michigan. He was stationed at Fingal Bombing and Gunnery School as staff pilot until November 11, 1943, when he left for overseas. While in England, he played football in exhibition games arranged between teams of selected stars in the Canadian and American armed forces. Also while overseas, he was promoted to the rank of Flight Lieutenant in August 1944. During that same month, on August 6, 1944, Charles’s younger brother, Fred, was killed in action while fighting in France, Fred a member of the Canadian Army Lincoln and Welland Regiment.
Charles Henry was a member of RCAF #576 Squadron “Carpe Diem” (Seize the opportunity), attaining the rank of Flight Lieutenant-Pilot. On February 21, 1945, Charles was aboard their Lancaster aircraft ME735 that went missing during a night trip, an attack against Duisburg, Germany, during the Battle of the Rhineland. Pilot Officer J.A. Russell and three of the crew, not Canadians, were also killed. Two of the crew, not Canadians, were missing and believed killed. Eyewitnesses saw the plane crash in flames three miles south of Kevelaer, on the boundry of Germany and Holland, between the hours of 11:30-11:45 pm. No parachutes were seen to leave the aircraft, and all members of the crew lost their lives in the crash. In late February of 1945, Mary Alyce Living, residing at George Street, Sarnia at the time, would receive a telegram from Ottawa informing her that her husband, Flight Lieutenant Charles Henry Living, is reported missing after operational flights over enemy territory. Charles Living would later officially be listed as, Previously reported missing after air operations, now for official purposes, presumed dead, overseas (Germany). Thirty year old Charles Living is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany, Grave 1.H.12.
(*The following article is courtesy of Dan McCaffrey, a local author, who wrote this column in November 2007):
When local residents pause to remember the nation’s war dead this Nov. 11, they might want to reflect for a moment on the story of Charles Henry Living.
Living, who was known to his friends as Hank, was a Saskatchewan native who came to our city in 1938 to play for the Sarnia Imperials football club. In addition to his athletic skills, he was a bright guy. In an era in which few people graduated from high school, he’d gone to St. Michael’s College in Toronto and the University of Michigan. He married a Sarnia girl and became a much-loved local figure.
When war came, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. He wanted to go overseas but he was such a skilled pilot that he was assigned to a flight school, where he taught others how to fly. It was only in November 1944 that he was posted to a Lancaster bomber squadron in England. It was there that fellow pilot Frank Phripp found him one evening in early 1945.
Writing in the book “The RCAF at War,” Phripp recalled hearing muffled sobs in the back of a hut. Going to investigate, he was in for a shock. Living was sitting in the dark, crying his eyes out.
“I had never seen a man cry, that was unthinkable among my Air Force friends,” he wrote. “And if the idea had occurred to me, Hank Living was the last man I would have expected to be so broken up. Hank was undoubtedly the biggest guy on our squadron. He had used his size well when he played centre on the line for the Sarnia Imperials in the Ontario Rugby Football Union. He was known as ‘Hi’ Living in 1938 when he starred in the final game with the Montreal Nationals that won the Imperials the ORFU championship. Yet there he was on his cot in a dim corner of our hut in Lincolnshire and heaving uncontrollably.”
Phripp put his hand on the Sarnian’s trembling shoulder. For the longest time the two men sat silently. Then, slowly and almost unintelligibly, Living began to explain that he was afraid to keep flying, that he was sure he was about to be killed.
The problem was his great size.
“He explained there was no way he could squeeze through the pilot’s escape hatch of the Lancaster with his parachute and Mae West (lifejacket) on,” Phripp recalled. “He had tried every way possible with the help of trainers and his crew, and it couldn’t be done.”
Fearing he’d be trapped in his burning plane as it plunged to the ground, Living had asked to be reassigned to a different job, but had been turned down. At this point he could simply have quit. All aircrew were volunteers and no one could force them to fly. They would be stripped of rank and forced to clean latrines or to do other menial tasks, but they wouldn’t have to face the deadly flak and fighters over Germany. But Living decided not to take the easy way out. Despite his fears, he kept flying until the night of Feb. 21, 1945, when his plane was shot down. Witnesses on the ground saw no parachutes emerge from the bomber as it plummeted to earth. Just as he had feared, Living had gone down with his aircraft.
If Remembrance Day is about recalling sacrifice and heroism, then Living’s story is well worth remembering. It’s easier to be brave if you have faith that you’re going to make it, that death will always come to “the other guy.” It’s quite another thing to carry on after you’ve lost your nerve, when you’re certain you’re going to be killed. Hank Living did that. His courage should never be forgotten.
*Dan McCaffery is a reporter, historian and the author of eight books, including six books on military history. He can be reached at [email protected]
SOURCES: C, D, E, F, J, L, M, N, 2C, 2D, g