Howard Fraser Thompson was born December 16, 1918, the eldest son of Howard Bell Thompson and Margaret M. (nee McDonald) Thompson of 292 North MacKenzie Street, Sarnia. Howard Fraser went by his middle name, Fraser. Fraser’s father Howard, was on the staff of Sarnia Refinery Engineering Department. Fraser had two brothers: Arthur Thompson (see above), who would also lose his life while serving with the RCAF, and the youngest brother, Robert, who was age 13 at the time of Fraser’s death. Fraser was a member of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and a graduate of Sarnia Collegiate. He later attended Pickering College in Newmarket and then spent one year at the University of Western Ontario. Prior to enlisting, Fraser was with the Inspection Laboratory of Sarnia Imperial Refinery.

Single at the time, Fraser enlisted in London, Ontario with the Royal Canadian Air Force on July 5, 1940. He attended air force training stations at Brandon and Rivers, Manitoba and Regina, Saskatchewan. In December of 1940, he passed his examinations as a pilot and then went to Initial Training School at Lethbridge, Alberta. His brother, Arthur Cameron, had earned his wings only a few days prior to Howard receiving his. Sergeant-Observer Howard Fraser would be awarded his wings as a member of the R.C.A.F. in early September of 1941, along with two other Sarnians, Sergeant-Pilot Wesley K. McDermid and Sergeant-Pilot Robert A. McCallum (included in this project). Fraser had started out to be a pilot, but later transferred to an observer’s course. After graduating, he was transferred to an Eastern Command and then went overseas in October 1941. He was a member of RCAF #40 Squadron “Hostem A Coelo Expellere” (To drive the enemy from the sky), attaining the rank of Flight Sergeant-Navigator. After further training and serving in Britain for some time, he was posted to the Middle East Ferry Company early in June of 1942. His parents in Sarnia had received two cables from Fraser not long before he was lost in action. In the first cable dated June 10, 1942, he informed them of his safe arrival by air in Gibraltar. The second cable dated June 22, 1942 informed them that he had been sent to the head quarters of the Middle East Command.

On June 27, 1942, at 4:05 a.m., his RCAF station was to receive the last word from Fraser Thompson’s Wellington aircraft after bombing operations. Flight sergeant-Navigator Howard Thompson was part of a crew that crashed just south-east of the Siwa Road near the railway line, at El Alamein, Egypt. Perishing with Flight sergeant-navigator Fraser Thompson were FS.s S. Gregory and O.M. Killeen; one RNZAF, and one RAF member of the crew.

Fraser Thompson was reported Missing in operational duties on June 27, 1942 by military officials. More than a week later, Fraser’s parents would receive a cable from the chief of air staff, Ottawa informing them that their eldest son had been, reported missing following a flight, presumably in Libya. On New Year’s Day, January of 1943, Howard and Margaret Thompson would receive a telegram from the R.C.A.F. Casualties Officer in Ottawa. The telegram read: Deeply regret to inform you further advice has been received from the Royal Canadian Air Force Casualties officer overseas that your son Flight-Sergeant Howard Fraser Thompson, previously reported missing on active service on June 27, 1942, is now reported to have lost his life, his body having been recovered. Accept my profound sympathy. Letter following. Fraser Thompson would later be officially listed as, Killed during air operations, overseas. Twenty-three year old Howard Fraser Thompson was buried near the Hohalfa Railway Station, exhumed and reburied in the Halaya Sollum War Cemetery, Egypt, Coll. Grave 15. B. 2-3.

Fraser’s younger brother, Flight-Sergeant Arthur Cameron Thompson, had seen almost three years of service in the RCAF at the time of Fraser’s death. About one year after Fraser’s death, his brother Arthur of the RCAF would also lose his life. Parents Howard and Margaret Thompson in Sarnia would lose two of their three sons in the war. On the Sarnia cenotaph, his name is inscribed as F.F. Thompson.

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