Lionel Manley "Elmer" Gaunce

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Three Reported Missing On Overseas Air Duty

Ottawa, November 23, 1941 - (CP) - One man was reported killed on active service overseas, three were reported missing after air operations overseas and one previously reported dangerously injured overseas was reported dead in the Royal Canadian Air Force's 118th official casualty list issued Saturday.
One previously reported seriously injured overseas was reported dangerously injured and one was reported killed on active service in Canada. One was reported missing on active service in Canada and one seriously ill in Canada. The list brings to 1,039 the number of air force dead and missing reported officially since the start of the war.
With next of kin:
Squadron Leader Feared Dead.
Derwent, Alta., November. 23 (CP) Mr. and Mrs. E.H. Gaunce of Derwent, Alta., received word from the Air Ministry Thursday that their son, Squadron Leader Lionel Manley Gaunce, is "reported missing and believed to have lost his life.” His wife lives in England and a brother, Ronald, is a druggist in Montreal. His father is a Canadian pacific Railway station agent here. One of the most thrilling chapters in the career of Gaunce was told in Canada recently by Wing Commander Ernest McNab of the Royal Canadian Air Force after his arrival from Britain. A handful of British fighters attacked more than 100 German planes over the English Channel. Gaunce's plane was winged. He hailed out. To prevent Germans from attacking him with gunfire as he floated to earth, Gaunce plummeted through the entire Nazi formation before opening his parachute. A Royal Air Force speedboat rescued him from the Channel.

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GAUNCE, S/L Lionel Manley (37632) - Distinguished Flying Cross - No.615 Squadron
Awarded as per London Gazette 23 August 1940 Specifically listed in AFRO 1292/41
dated 7 November 1941 as a Canadian in the RAF who had been decorated as of that date.
Air Ministry Bulletin 1416 refers:

This flight commander has displayed excellent coolness and leadership since the return of the squadron to England. In July his flight took part in resisting an enemy air attack on Dover when three of our aircraft were attacked by forty Junkers 87s. At least two of the enemy were shot down. Flight Lieutenant Gaunce has shot down three enemy aircraft since returning to England.

NOTE: Public Record Office has an undated recommendation for this award, prepared by a Squadron Leader J.R. Kayll:

This officer took over command of "A" Flight on May 16th, 1940, and his coolness and leadership since return of this squadron to England has ben exemplary. His Flight took part in the Battle of Dover on July 14th when three of our aircraft were attacked by 40 Junkers 87s of which two were definitely shot down and one probably destroyed. Flight Lieutenant Gaunce has personally shot down three enemy aircraft since returning to England quite apart from taking part in numerous patrols whilst in France.

On 8 August 1940, Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park adds his comments:

I understand this officer has already been recommended for an award for his work in France, which recommendation may have been mislaid by his Wing Headquarters (61 Wing).

He is a gallant young Canadian and has personally destroyed three enemy aircraft. He has shown exceptional ability as a leader of his flight; for this in particular as well as for his successes, I consider him well worthy of the immediate award of the Distinguished Flying Cross for which I strongly recommend him.

Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding wrote "Approved" on the form on 11 August 1940.

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One Dead, Two Missing On Overseas Air Duty

Ottawa, January 6, 1942 - (CP) - The Royal Canadian Air Force's 154th official casualty list today reported one man killed on active service overseas, two missing after air operations overseas and one killed on active service in Canada. The list brought to 1,240 the number of air force dead and missing reported officially since the war started.
With next-of-kin:
Missing, Believed Killed in Action
Lionel Manley Gaunce, Acting Flight Lieutenant, born in Lethbridge, Alta., wife lives in Catherham, Surrey, England.
The Canadian half of the famous team of "Elmer and Dutch" was broken up with the loss of Gaunce, 26, who grew up in Edmonton.
Gaunce, awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross Aug. 19, 1940, for gallantry and "excellent coolness and leadership," was listed last Nov. 22 as "missing, believed killed in action."
Fought With Advance Force
Gaunce's decoration came after his return to Britain from France, where he had fought with the advance British striking force. In one of his encounters with the enemy he was forced to bail out when his plane, one of a small R.A.F. group, was struck by fire from one of more than 100 German planes over the Channel. To prevent the Germans from shooting him as he descended, he dropped through the Nazi formations before opening his parachute. He was pulled out of the water by the crew of an R.A.F. rescue boat.
Gaunce received his decoration at the same time as Flying Officer Petrus Hendrik (Dutch) Hugo, a young Afrikaner from South Africa, who flew with him. After being notified of the award the pair went aloft and shot down three German aircraft to celebrate.
In November 1940, Gaunce was taken to hospital, seriously ill of a duodenal ulcer, but he returned to active service as soon as he was cured.
Gaunce's parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Gaunce, live at Derwent, Alta., where Mr. Gaunce is Canadian Pacific Railway station agent.

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Lionel Gaunce has no known grave, his name is inscribed on the
Runnymede War Memorial, Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey, England.

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Name Mountains After war heroes

Edmonton, July 16, 1949 (CP) — Seven mountains in the Moberly Creek area of Jasper National Park are to be named after Alberta war heroes, Mrs. Edith Gostick, provincial librarian, announced yesterday.
The decision to name the mountains after the Alberta heroes was made by the Alberta Geographic Board and approved by Dominion authorities.
The war heroes are: Brig. F.M.W. Harvey, who won the Victoria Cross in the First World War and now is living in retirement in Calgary; Cpl George Champion, of Edmonton, killed in Italy; S/L, Lionel M. Gaunce, D.F.C., of Lethbridge and Sylvan Lake, lost after a raid by the R.A.F. on St. Lo; Lieut. Edmund de Wind, former Edmonton bank clerk, killed with the Royal Irish Rifles; S/L Ian B. Bazalgette, V.C.; D.F.C., of Calgary, killed while serving with the R.A.F.; F/O Stanley Powell Swensen, of Brooks, killed in 1940; and W/C A. Lout, killed in a flying accident at Sydney, N.S., in 1943.

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--- Canadian Aces ---

--- Other Canadian Fighter Pilots ---

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