Researcher looking for family of Chatham pilot killed in Second World War

A researcher from France is trying to find living relatives of a Chatham pilot officer killed in the Second World War ahead of a memorial planned in 2025 for airmen who died in an area of ​​northern France.

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Bernard Feutry, who lives in Vieux-Mesnil, France, recently contacted the IODE Kent Regiment chapter looking for help locating the family of William Howard Taylor.

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Taylor, born Jan. 12, 1919 in Chatham, enlisted in the army in September 1941 and later transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force.

His parents were Mary and Robert Taylor of Elizabeth Street in Chatham. According to Gathering Our Heroes, a website run by local IODE chapters chronicling veterans in the two world wars, he was the grandson of “Mrs. Adam Taylor” of Chatham.

Taylor worked as a stockkeeper for Noble Duff Ford Sales and Service in Chatham prior to his enlistment, according to documents on the Veterans Affairs Canada website.

His RCAF service book listed him as single.

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While with the RCAF 432 “Leaside” Squadron, Taylor was part of a planned raid on Cologne, Germany from July 3 to July 4, 1943.

Taylor was with four other men inside the Wellington Bomber LN 285 on night air operations for the raid.

According to documents from Veterans Affairs Canada, the aircraft left base at 10:43 pm on July 3, 1943 and no further news was received. The crew was expected to return to base at 4:40 am July 4, 1943.

The documents available quote German information stating Taylor died on July 4, 1943 at 24 and he was buried in the civil cemetery in Maubeuge, France.

Flight Sgt. William Ernest Armstrong, Flight Sgt. Douglas Allan Hogg and Flying Officer George Raymond Bousfield of the RCAF and Sgt. Frank Bertram Jackson of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve also died on the mission.

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According to Feutry’s research, the site of the crash was in woods near Sains-du-Nord, France.

In an email to Chatham This Week, Feutry said a memorial will be inaugurated in the village of Boussières-sur-Sambre in northern France on April 26, 2025.

The memorial will be for the 116 Australian, British, American, New Zealand, Canadian and French airmen killed in the Avesnois region of France during the Second World War, including Taylor, he said.

“After years of research, I know the story of these men and it is very important to me that the families are informed,” Feutry said in the email. “Today, I have 25 families found. I’ll let you imagine the emotion of these people.”

Anyone with information about Taylor’s family can contact Feutry at [email protected]. Visit aviateursavesnois.free.fr for the full list of airmen killed in the Avesnois region.

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