Arthur Cameron Thompson was born July 22, 1921, the middle son of Howard Bell Thompson and Margaret M. (McDonald) Thompson, of 292 North MacKenzie Street, Sarnia. Arthur’s father, Howard, was on the staff of Sarnia Refinery Engineering Department. Arthur had two brothers: Howard Fraser (see below), who would also serve in the RCAF, and the youngest brother Robert. Arthur Cameron married Edwina Joyce Toms, of Cornwall, England sometime in 1942 and the young couple would have a son whom they named Richard Fraser. Arthur Cameron was the first Thompson boy to enlist, signing up with the Royal Canadian Air Force in May of 1940. He underwent training in Toronto, Edmonton, Mossbank, Saskatchewan and Rivers, Manitoba. He would receive his wings in December of 1940, when he was promoted to the rank of Flight-Sergeant, and was then transferred to a school in Rivers, Manitoba. His brother Howard Fraser would earn his wings only a few days after Arthur Cameron received his. Initially Arthur would be stationed at the ground school in Toronto, at the former Eglinton Hunt Club. In March of 1941, his parents would receive a cablegram from their son Arthur, informing them that he had arrived safely in England. At some point in time while overseas, Arthur married an English girl.
Arthur Cameron would become a member of RCAF #431 Iroquois Squadron “The Hatiten Ronteriios” (Warriors of the air), attaining the rank of Pilot Officer-Bomb Aimer. On January 29, 1944, while a member of a crew aboard Halifax aircraft LL181, Pilot Officer-Bomb Aimer Arthur Thompson’s aircraft was shot down east of Zinndorf, Germany, near the target Berlin, Germany. It was the third day of a heavy aerial offensive on Germany. Several days later, parents Howard and Margaret Thompson in Sarnia would receive a telegram from Ottawa informing them that their son, Sgt. Arthur Cameron Thompson has been reported missing following an Allied raid over Berlin. For Howard and Margaret Thompson, Arthur was the second son they had lost to war. About one year earlier, on New Year’s Day 1943, they had received news that their eldest son, Howard Fraser Thompson of the RCAF, had been killed during air operations overseas. Another set of Sarnia parents, John and Mary Ellen McKeown, would receive the same information on the same day about their son, Victor Herbert McKeown, who was also listed as missing in the same bombing raid over Berlin (included in this project). Arthur Cameron’s wife Edwina Joyce and nine-month old son Richard Fraser were in England at the time of Arthur’s death.
In late May of 1944, Howard and Margaret Thompson in Sarnia, would be advised by R.C.A.F. headquarters at Ottawa that their son, Flight Sergeant Arthur Cameron Thompson, had been promoted to pilot officer as of January 25, 1944. This was the first word from Ottawa about their son since he had been reported missing on January 28, 1944. In early January of 1945, one year after his aircraft was shot down, an R.C.A.F. casualty list was released listing Pilot Officer Arthur Cameron Thompson as, now for official purposes presumed dead, after previously being reported missing. Perishing with Pilot Officer Arthur Cameron Thompson were Flying Officer Roy MacLean, Pilot Officer W.R. Hewetson, and Sgt. N.A. Bell. Three others of the crew, not Canadians, were reported missing and believed killed.
Arthur Cameron would leave behind his parents Howard and Margaret Thompson in Sarnia, his “British bride” of less than two years, Edwina Joyce, and their son, Richard Fraser. In late May of 1945, Edwina Joyce Thompson and two-year old son Richard Fraser would arrive in Sarnia to spend some time with Howard and Margaret Thompson. The Sarnia Observer described Edwina Thompson as a slim, blue-eyed rather shy and extremely attractive young English girl. Edwina spoke highly of the reception given her by the Red Cross, V.A.D. nurses and other organizations on her arrival in Canada. She and her son had made the cross-Atlantic crossing aboard the liner Brittany (Brittanic), in the company of 600 other brides and 400 children. Edwina was the daughter of Commander E.E. Toms, Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm of Cornwall, England. Edwina had one sister who was preparing to return to New Zealand with her serviceman husband; another who was engaged to an Australian, and a third who was to go to India with her husband on British government business. For a time during the war, Edwina and husband Arthur Cameron had resided in Portsmouth, where he was stationed, during a period when the city was under heavy and constant air raid attack.
Edwina described training schools for Canadian war brides that were set up in London and other large metropolitan areas, but were not available in the smaller centres; however, invitations to attend were sent to prospective candidates in outlying areas. Although she was “instructed” by her husband Arthur about Canada, she found it different from what she expected. Shop windows full of clothes and shoes, the abundance of food and the luxury of bananas and ice cream were difficult to comprehend after the sparse fare of England. She described the diet as adequate, though plain and uninteresting. The fuel shortage of the last winter as rather grim, but they managed somehow. Edwina Thompson said that she was quite prepared to like Canada and things Canadian, and was looking forward with pleasure to becoming acquainted with her Sarnia relatives.
Twenty-two year old Arthur Cameron Thompson is buried in the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany, Coll. Grave 8.G.33-37. On Arthur Thompson’s headstone are inscribed the words, Never have so few given so much for so many, to the utmost, to the end.
SOURCES: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, L, M, N, 2B, 2C