Cam Wallace flew 90 operations on two tours of operations with Bomber Command, the first on Stirlings with No. 214 Squadron, he then did Oboe marking with No.109 Squadron of the Pathfinder Force.

My father felt incredibly lucky to finish 90 operations and no one was more surprised to be alive at the end of the war than he was. He had lost many, many, friends during the war. One thing I found after he died was a handwritten list of just the Canadians he knew that died in the Air Force during the war and there were more than 130 names on it. It included 17 of the Dambusters, one Great Escaper who was executed by the Gestapo, and 2 pairs of brothers (one were twins), who managed to crew together and also died together flying. During the 5 months he was on operations with 214 Squadron RAF (approximately 16 aircraft - about 112 men) there were 130 men killed, 24 taken as POWs and 12 wounded - nearly a 150% casualty rate. Only about a dozen of them were Canadians so its fair to estimate he lost 200-250 friends by the end of the war when you include the Brits, Australian and New Zealanders in the units he served with. He never forgot these men and I think he felt a special bond to those who didn't survive the war like Freddie Forrest, Mac Johnson, Arnie Billings, Jean Louis Viau and Rollie Pilon because he saw himself as one of them who somehow got a miraculous reprieve and lived. The men who served with Bomber Command were all very special men.

Post-war Cam finished medical school and became a Pathologist whose work focused on Cancer research and later on, research  dealing with organ transplantation. He was a Professor of Pathology and a long time Director of the National Cancer Institute, serving President from 1978 to 1980. He died Jan.26, 2000 in Nassau, Bahamas.

David Wallace

No.1 Initial Training School, Toronto – Graduated Dec.6 1941
No. 4 Air Observers’s School, London  - Graduated March 16, 1942
No. 4 Bombing & Gunnery School, Fingal – Graduated April 25, 1942
No.2 Advanced Navigation School, Pennfield Ridge, N.B. – Graduated May 25, 1942
No.9 Advanced Flying Unit, Penros Wales – Aug.8/42 – Sept.7/42
No. 14 Operational Training Unit, Cottesmore Rutlands – Sept.8 42 – Dec.30/42
No.1657 Heavy Conversion Unit, Stradishall Suffolk – Jan..1/43 – Feb.27/43

No.214 Squadron, Chedburgh Suffolk – March.1/43 – July 29/43

Stirlings – 17 Operations completed
Crew
Pilot – P/O Geoff Shattock
Navigator – F/O Cameron Wallace RCAF
Bomb Aimer – Sgt. Howard Hunt RCAF
Wireless Operator – Sgt. John Smith
Flight Engineer – Sgt. David Lamming
Rear Gunner – Sgt. Bud  Dickenson RCAF (USA) –Later transferred to USAAF
Mid-Upper Gunner - Sgt. Frederick Trinder

No.28 Operational Training Unit, Wymeswold Leicestershire – July 30/43 – Feb.14/44
No.1655 Mosquito Training Unit, Marham Norfolk - Feb.15/44- March 30/44

No.109 Squadron, Little Staughton Bedfordshire – April 2/44 – Dec.21/44

Mosquitoes – Oboe marking, Pathfinder Force – 73 Operations completed (30 daylight)
Crew
Pilot  - W/C W.G. Foxall DSO,DFC
Navigator – F/L Cameron Wallace RCAF

Arrived back in Canada Feb.1/45
Struck off the roll March 12/45
Awarded DFC March 15/45