ROBERT EDWARD FITZGERALD
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DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS
The cross is awarded to officers and Warrant Officers for an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty performed whilst flying in active operations against the enemy. The slip-on bar has an eagle in the centre. The year of the award is engraved on the reverse. |
My father's name is Robert Edward Fitzgerald. He was born in Windsor Ontario in June 1922 and resided for a number of years in Amherstburg, Ontario before moving to Windsor and raising his family here after the war. My father enlisted in the RCAF on April 22, 1941 and completed his first leg of training at No.1 ITS and graduated on July 25, 1941. He then went on to training at No.6 BGS and graduated on September 29, 1941. He was commissioned as Flight Officer of the No. 408 Squadron and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on the 2nd of January 1945. My Dad was the tail gunner on a Lancaster Bomber and completed a number of operational tours during his military campaign in Europe. He returned to Canada in 1947 and was instrumental in establishing the Air Force Club of Windsor located on Marentette Avenue. He was the first president of that association and stayed very active in many capacities with that association right up until to his death in December 1983. submitted by Tim Fitzgerald |
The Windsor Daily Star, Windsor, Ontario, Thursday, September 20, 1945
