Dewey, Flight Sergeant Kenneth Welland

Service highlights

  • Name: Flight Sergeant Kenneth Welland Dewey
  • Service number: R210865
  • Born: 18 October (sources differ on year, some list 1923 and others 1924), in St. Marys
  • Parents: Simeon Dewey and Maurine Dewey, later of Stratford
  • Force: Royal Canadian Air Force
  • Unit: No. 625 Squadron RAF
  • Role: Mid upper air gunner
  • Operational loss: Aircraft failed to return from a night operation against Kiel, 23 to 24 July 1944
  • Commemorated: Runnymede Memorial, Panel 254

A Life and Service Remembered

Kenneth Welland Dewey was a St. Marys young man whose war service carried him far from the streets and workplaces that knew him first. Records place his birthday on October 18, with the year reported differently depending on the source, but the arc of his service is consistent. He enlisted 3 years after his older brother Lester James. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, trained into a demanding aircrew trade, and was sent overseas to serve with a front line bomber squadron.

In the correspondence sent to his family after he went missing, his squadron described him as well liked and quickly accepted, someone who made friends easily even in a unit where crews came and went. Another letter, sent later with his Operational Wings and certificate, tried to offer comfort in the only way a formal page can. It acknowledged that nothing could truly lessen the loss, and framed the wings as a lasting memento of a young life given in service.

Kenneth served with No. 625 Squadron RAF as a mid upper gunner, part of a Lancaster crew flying night operations over occupied Europe. On the night of 23 July 1944, moving into the early hours of 24 July, his aircraft took off on a bombing operation against Kiel and never returned. Post war research could not establish the crew’s fate with certainty, and he is recorded among the missing.

Today, Kenneth is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, a place reserved for airmen whose graves are unknown. Panel 254 bears his name. His parents, Simeon Dewey and Maurine Dewey, carried that absence the rest of their lives, first as a long stretch of uncertainty and later as a permanent ache. The family would also lose his brother, Lester James Dewey, who was killed in action the following year. Kenneth and his brother Lester are commemorated in St. Marys, including on the World War II plaque at the Town Hall.

Major battles and operations

  • Aircrew operations with No. 625 Squadron RAF
  • Night bombing operation against Kiel, aircraft failed to return, 23 to 24 July 1944

Learn More

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/node/576785
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/178275037/kenneth-welland-dewey
https://uk.forceswarrecords.com/image/726291648/dewey-kenneth-welland-page-17-canada-wwii-records-and-service-files-of-war-dead-1939-1947
https://ca.forceswarrecords.com/image/726291686/dewey-kenneth-welland-page-55-canada-wwii-records-and-service-files-of-war-dead-1939-1947
https://www.625squadron.com/home/personnel/air-crew/air-crew-personal-pages/dewey-kenneth-welland
https://caspir.warplane.com/personnel/unit-search/p/600005026/
https://rcl236stmarys.ca/cenotaph/dewey-private-lester-james/
The Fallen, Richard Holt, R210865 Flight KW Dewey, Pg 98