Readers to the Rescue!
I had a story, “A Flyer Dropped By” published in the Octobernovember issue of 2020. A request asking for readers’ help to confirm the RCAF flyer’s identity has been answered! (The flyer had parachuted onto a barn roof in Normandy, France, and was rescued by the brave Denise and André Le Boucher.) Wayne Taggart of Parrsboro, N.S., and Nora Sutherland of Laurentian University provided the missing
“ocial” corroboration. “George Lamb” as he was known to his rescuers, was part of an RAF crew delivering supplies to the Resistance that was shot down on May 29, 1944. Among the names of the five -member crew was: Air Bombardier #J28492 F/O Graham LAMB RCAF who “evaded capture.”
Wayne provided Lamb’s obituary naming his children. I contacted his daughter Carol (Petovello) who said her eldest sister, Denise, was named “after a woman who helped ‘George Lamb’ ” following the crash. Carol agrees it could only be the same Denise. Also, Lamb named his first born son “Ian” after his doomed pilot. Again, from Wayne’s research on the same flight: Pilot #128873 F/O Ian John Gore HART RAF, KIA (Killed In Action).
Lamb revealed few details of his post-crash escapades before reaching Allied lines, none contained in this story, a surprise revelation to his family who expresses their gratitude
to Our Canada for publishing it. Thanks to Wayne, Nora and Our Canada, I can now contact the Le Boucher children to convey the profound gratitude of Lamb’s children for their parents’ heroism in rescuing their father. They may even eventually meet up!