BC history buff memorializes popular Leamington pilot

By Mark Ribble

LEAMINGTON — A British Columbia insurance executive has a keen interest in a Leamington pilot who died over the skies of Normandy in 1944.

Tom Barnes has ‘adopted’ Harry Fenwick and memorializes him annually in this paper and others across Canada.

The late Jack Greswell wrote a weekly column in the Leamington Post for many years. One of his regular subjects to write about was his late friend, Harry Fenwick, who had been shot down in the Second World War.

Harry Fenwick wasn’t born in Leamington. In fact, he was born near Winnipeg, Manitoba and came to Leamington with his family at the start of high school.

He attended Leamington District High School and made quick friends with Jack Greswell and others who remembered him for years after.

He had been a standout second baseman with the Leamington Barons and Greswell often wrote of Harry’s prowess on the ball diamonds of Leamington. He also worked two summers at the Heinz plant. After high school, Harry made a trip to Windsor and enlisted in the RCAF, which was 80 years ago, in November, 1940.

Harry Fenwick as a member of the 1939 Leamington Barons.

Photo from the Scott Holland Collection

After two years overseas, he was considered one of the aces of the RCAF and one of the top fighter pilots in the North African Campaign, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), an honour bestowed upon the best pilots in the forces. He was shot down twice but survived both times.

Harry arrived back in Leamington in September of 1943, but after about six months at home, he longed for the thrill of the European theatre and re-enlisted in the air force, where he was responsible for training other pilots. At some point, he was pulled back into service and died flying over Normandy on June 21, 1944.

Fenwick’s grave in Beny Sur Mer Canadian War Cemetery in Normandy, France.

Tom Barnes photo

His father, Harry Sr., had already moved from Leamington, to Sioux Lookout, Ontario, where he set up a family practice as a physician.

Fast forward to 2003, when history buff Tom Barnes and his wife Patti took a trip to Amsterdam.

Barnes’ mother had recently passed away and they were looking to travel. The plan was to stay in Belgium, but they took a side trip to Vimy, where so many Canadian war dead are buried.

“I couldn’t help but think about Pierre Berton’s book, Vimy, where he asked a poignant question at the end,” said Barnes. “Was it all worth it? Of course not.”

Despite winning the battle, over 3500 Canadians died and another 7,000 were wounded.

“Our best and brightest lost their lives over there,” says Barnes. “We will never know what more they could have accomplished.”

In 2008, Barnes and his wife returned to Europe and visited Normandy with some American friends.

“As you walk through these cemeteries, you get a sense of these soldiers,” he said.

Tom and Patti Barnes on Juno Beach, Normandy France in 2008.

It was there, in Beny Sur Mer Canadian War Cemetery, that he happened upon the grave of one Harry E. Fenwick, DFC, Pilot, RCAF.

“My first thought was, how did a 23-year-old already have a Distinguished Flying Cross?” he said. “And how did he wind up here?”

That prompted Barnes to ‘adopt’ Harry Fenwick and thus began a quest to learn as much as he could about the late Leamington pilot.

For the past several years, he has been placing a memoriam in the Sioux Lookout Bulletin, on Remembrance Day week.

Once he discovered Harry’s strong connection to Leamington, he also contacted the Southpoint Sun to place a memoriam here as well. That memoriam has run in the Sun for the past few years and will run in next week’s edition.

Barnes has discovered more information on Fenwick as time has passed. One of the more intriguing stories is that his mother abandoned the family when Harry was young, which was quite unusual for that time. Barnes says there is also a lake in the Northwest Territories named for Fenwick, just north of Yellowknife.

Barnes and his wife hope to get to Leamington someday for Remembrance Day, as he is usually in Toronto for business this time of year.

Although he won’t be able to accomplish that in 2020, there is always hope he can visit the area in the future.