Ralph Mellon was born on May 29, 1924, the son of Allan Alexander Mellon and Jessie May (nee Jackson) Mellon, of 205 ½ North Front Street, Sarnia. Father Allen Mellon was employed with the Canadian National Railway. Ralph Mellon attended Sarnia Collegiate Institute and prior to enlisting, was employed at Electric Auto-Lite and the Wise Engineering Company. Ralph, single at the time, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in November 1942. He would graduate as a gunner from No. 9 Bombing and Gunnery School at Mont Joli, Quebec in the spring of 1944. Sometime before graduating, Ralph would lose his mother, Jessie May Mellon. Ralph Mellon would become a member of RCAF #431 Iroquois Squadron “The Hatiten Ronteriios” (Warriors of the air), attaining the rank of Flight Sergeant-Air Gunner.

It would only be one year after graduating as a gunner that Ralph Mellon would lose his life. On April 25, 1945, Ralph Mellon was a part of a crew aboard Lancaster aircraft KB831 on its way to Germany. Their Lancaster aircraft KB831 and a Lancaster aircraft KB822, both from the #431 squadron, were in a mid-air collision over the Baltic Sea on their way to target Wangerooge, Germany. This was the last trip of the War for this squadron. Lancaster KB831 casualties were Flight sergeant-Air Gunner Ralph Mellon along with F/L. R.J. Stingle; B.D. Emmet; F/O. W.E. Hanna; WO. C.R. Mark; Sgt. F. Smith (RAF); and one other RAF airman.

In late April of 1945, father Allan Alexander Mellon in Sarnia would receive a telegram from the Department for National Defence for Air in Ottawa informing him that his son, Flight Sergeant Ralph Jackson Mellon, was reported missing in action recently after air operations over enemy territory. A little over one week after receiving this telegram, VE Day was declared on May 8, 1945, ending the war in Europe. Ralph Mellon would later be officially listed as, Previously reported missing after air operations, now for official purposes, presumed dead, overseas (Germany). Twenty year-old Ralph Mellon has no known grave. His name is inscribed on the Runnymede War Memorial, Surrey, United Kingdom, Panel 282.

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