Sparling, Lawson Frederick

Date of birth:: October 5th, 1920 (Vanguard/Saskatchewan, Canada)
Date of death:: June 26th, 1943 (Baak/Gelderland, the Netherlands)
Buried on:: Commonwealth War Graves General Cemetery Steenderen
Grave: 5.
Service number:: R/128162
Nationality:: Canadian

Biography

Lawson Frederick Sparling was born in Vanguard Saskatchewan on 5 October 1920, the son of Russell Harvey Sparling (American) and Jessie Elizabeth Sparling-Turner of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. They were married on 2 February 1920 in Regina, Saskatchewan.

He was a student and a member of the United Church. He attended the Thornton S.D. from 1928-1934, the Ashville S.D. from 1936-1940 and then college in 1940 and the Business College in 1941. His hobbies were tinkering with cars, reading and stamp collecting and his sports were baseball and Canadian football (average), ice hockey (occasionally) softball, curling (intense).

He served as a Private from 19 September 1940 to 10 December 1940 with the C.O.T.C. of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. He then enlisted in the RCAF in Saskatoon on 4 September 1941 and then went overseas to the UK on 8 October 1942. He received The Air Gunner's Badge in Canada on 28 August 1942. He participated in several air operations of his squadron over NW Europe after arriving in the UK in the rank of Warant Officer II as an airgunner.

Lawson died on Saturday 26 June 1943 aged 22 in a crash near the village of Baak during a mission to Gelsenkirchen in Germany. He and the rest of the crew were buried in Steenderen General Cemetery.

The other RCAF crew member killed was F/Sgt Cecil H. Sinclair, age 22 in grave 7. The other RAF VR crew members killed were Sgt John A. Francis, age 20 in grave 6, Sgt Stanley Cowgill, age 21 in grave 8, Sgt Edward W.H. Browne, age 20 in the Joint grave 9 and Sgt John G.V. Williams also in the Joint grave 9. The third RCAF crew member F/O E.W. Davidson was able to jump down and was taken prisoner of war. He survived the war and returned safely to the UK.

On his gravestone: OUR SON

His father was awarded The Memorial Bar in June 1945.
He served with The Royal Canadian Air Force 106 (R.A.F.) Sqdn.

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