Thistle, Aircraftman 2 Edward Allan

Service highlights

  • Service Number: R170567,
  • Aircraftman 2nd Class
  • Royal Canadian Air Force airframe mechanic in training
  • Born 12 April 1914 in Downie Township, Ontario
  • Worked in St. Marys as an electrician before enlistment
  • Died 14 October 1942
  • Commemorated on the RCAF Memorial and the World War II plaque at St. Marys Town Hall

A Life and Service Remembered

Edward Allan Thistle was born in Downie Township on 12 April 1914 and moved to St. Marys as a boy with his parents. He attended St. Marys Central School and, like many young men of his generation, stepped into work early. From 1929 to 1942 he worked as an electrician at Tovell’s Music and Electric Shop, a job that suited both his practical skills and his interest in music. In his spare time, he played in his brother Bill’s orchestra. More than one source notes that although he signed his name Edward, he was also known as Allan, the name most people seemed to use.

Family details bring him into focus. He lived with his parents on Queen Street East in St. Marys. He liked softball and hockey, and he hoped to become a musician after the war. Those are the kinds of plans that feel especially sharp in hindsight, because they were normal, reachable, and very much his.

Allan enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1942 and trained as an airframe mechanic. After basic training in Toronto, he went to technical training in St. Thomas. Late in September 1942, he spent a short time back in St. Marys before heading out again for his next posting at RCAF Station Torbay in Newfoundland. He likely travelled east by rail to Montreal and then on to Nova Scotia, where he boarded the SS Caribou, a ferry that regularly carried passengers and freight between Sydney and Port aux Basques.

The Caribou sailed the evening of 13 October 1942 with an escort, HMCS Grandmere. In the early hours of 14 October, a German U-boat attacked. A torpedo struck the ship amidships, the boilers exploded, and the Caribou went down within minutes. Lifeboats and rafts were damaged in the blast, and many people were thrown into cold water in the dark. When the escort returned to the area, survivors were pulled from the sea, but 136 people were lost, including children. No trace of Allan Thistle was found.

His family carried the loss in the quiet ways families do. His mother, Annie, was listed as the beneficiary of his estate. Allan is remembered by name on his parents’ gravestone in St. Marys Cemetery, and he is also commemorated publicly, in Ottawa on the RCAF Memorial and at home in St. Marys on the Town Hall World War II plaque. Those markers matter, because for those lost at sea, they become the place where remembrance can finally land.

Major battles and operations

  • 12 April 1914, born in Downie Township, Ontario
  • Moved to St. Marys as a boy, educated at St. Marys Central School
  • 1929 to 1942, electrician at Tovell’s Music and Electric Shop in St. Marys
  • 1942, enlisted in the RCAF
  • 5 June to 17 July 1942, No. 1 Manning Depot, Toronto
  • Technical Training School, St. Thomas, trained as an airframe mechanic
  • Late September 1942, brief leave in St. Marys
  • October 1942, en route to RCAF Station Torbay, Newfoundland aboard the SS Caribou
  • 14 October 1942, SS Caribou torpedoed and sunk, Allan lost at sea

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