Wendell Pierce Drew was born in Radisson, Saskatchewan, on 5 October 1920, to Achsah Anna Drew (née Swail) and Albert George Drew. Outside of school and farm work, he loved sports and photography. Wendell enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in Saskatoon on 12 November 1940, and trained as a Wireless Air Gunner, attending No. 1 Wireless School in Montreal, Quebec, and Bombing and Air Gunnery School in Jarvis, Ontario. In December 1941, he went overseas for additional training in the United Kingdom. He served in Bomber Command on an operational tour in the Mediterranean while stationed in Malta with the 69 and 458 Squadrons from November 1942 to May 1943. Here he was the sole survivor of a fiery crash near Luqa that killed all his crewmates on February 13, 1943. After serving an instructional tour in the UK, he received a special one-month leave and returned home to Radisson for the final time in December 1943. After receiving his Operational Wings in Lachine, Quebec, he returned to the UK in early 1944 and began serving another operational tour in the bombing campaigns over Europe with the 429 "Bison" and 405 "Pathfinder" Squadrons from April to July. Wendell died at age 23 on 29 July 1944, when he and his entire crew perished over the North Sea on the night of a bombing raid over Hamburg, Germany. Pilot Officer Colin John Blyth was the only crew member whose body was found when it washed ashore near Ringkøbing Fjord in Denmark a few months later; he is buried in Haurvig, Denmark. In addition to the Runnymede Memorial, Wendell is commemorated at the Saskatchewan War Memorial in Regina, Canada’s Bomber Command Memorial in Nanton, Alberta, and the RCAF WWII Memorial in Brandon, Manitoba. Also, Drew Lake in northern Saskatchewan is named in his honour. The Radisson Zion Museum houses his war medal collection (except for the Memorial Cross, the whereabouts of which are unknown after it was issued to his mother in 1945) and several personal belongings. In addition to his parents (who both passed away in 1966), Wendell was also survived by his English fiancée, Gladys Hope, who visited his parents in Radisson in 1947 and ultimately immigrated to Canada. In a shocking coincidence in June 1993, Gladys (married name Fox) happened to be visiting Ottawa and was in the Peace Tower on the day when the Second World War Book of Remembrance was opened to the very page bearing the name of Flying Officer Wendell Pierce Drew. She kept this photo of him and always remembered him until her death at age 96 on 25 June 2021, in Sarnia, Ontario. Now her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren keep Wendell’s memory alive.
Citations: 1939–1945 Star; Africa Star (with North Africa 1942-43 bar/clasp); France and Germany Star; Defence Medal; Canadian Volunteer Service Medal (with Overseas & Bomber Command bars/clasps); War Medal 1939–1945; Memorial Cross GVIR
https://claudiafoxreppen.com/2021/07/01/dels-legacy-a-canada-day-commemoration/
https://claudiafoxreppen.com/2022/07/17/echo-from-the-dunes-rcaf-p-o-colin-john-blyth/
With Help From
Lance Fox and Claudia Fox Reppen (grandchildren of Gladys Fox)
Fallen
