Date of birth:

December 14th, 1902 (Carlton/Ontario, Canada)

Date of death:

May 10th, 1940 (Piershil, Netherlands)

Buried on:

Commonwealth War Grave Piershil

Service number:

77117

Nationality:

Canadian

Bob was born on December 14, 1902, and spent his childhood in downtown Ottawa, living on Elgin Street with his parents and two brothers. His father was a general practitioner and had a practice at home. In 1910 Bob won the Sunday School award for having the most attendance in the nursery class. He was an athletic young man and played American Football in the City's Junior League for the Rideau team.

Unlike his brothers Eddie and Frank, he did not want to follow in his father's footsteps. Instead of a career as a doctor, Bob joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on May 1, 1934. He was stationed at the Depot Division in Regina, Saskatchewan. Eleven months later, on April 1, 1935, he resigned from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Shortly afterwards, in 1936, he moved to England with his wife Winifred Joan Richardson.

Following the birth of their son Paul, he joined the RAF Voluntary Reserve (RAFVR) in December 1939. After a short training course he was posted to RAF Manston air base in Kent and was promoted to the officer rank of Pilot Officer (2nd Lieutenant); his service number was 77117.

On the morning of May 10, 1940, Bob (as an officer) was assigned as gunner of a Bristol Blenheim 1F to the B-Flight of RAF No. 600 Squadron "City of London" for a mission to the Netherlands.

He was killed at the age of 37 during the attack on the Dutch Waalhaven airfield, which had just been captured by the German army, in the air above Piershil, located on the South Holland island of Hoeksche Waard.
He was buried with military honours in Piershil. Even after the war, Robert Echlin’s grave remained in Piershil, which gave the cemetery behind the church the status of 'Commonwealth War Grave'.

Robert Echlin was married to Winifred Joan Richardson (1902-1986). Joan was born in 1902 in Helston (Cornwall, England), the daughter of Harold Guy Kirkpatrick Richardson and Winifred James. In 1912 this family emigrated from Dartford (Kent, England) to Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada).

After meeting and marrying in Canada, Robert and Joan emigrated to England in 1936. In that year their son Paul Robert Echlin was born in Kendal (Westmorland, England) on March 22.

In 1939 they lived at 13 Sandow Crescent, Hayes and Harlington (Middlesex, England), Robert's occupation at the time was factory production clerk. At the time they were living in the home of a relative. The house was registered in the name of Mrs. J. William Echlin (born May 28, 1902). Later, Robert, Joan, and Paul moved to Kent.

After her husband's death, Joan returned to Canada and never remarried.

In 2022, researcher Corin Gelderblom discovered that the age on Echlin's grave was incorrect. Corin found in archives that Robert 'Bob' Echlin was born on December 14, 1902 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. This meant that he was 37 years old at the time of death, and not 36 as stated on the stone in Piershil. After contacting the head office in Ypres, Henk van den Heuvel received this response: "Thank you very much for noticing the error on the gravestone of P/O Echlin. I have now done some research into the victim's age and agree that he was indeed 37 when he died, rather than 36. I can see from our records that his widow told us after the war that he was 36. Without access to any further data at the time, we assumed this to be correct. I have now updated the victim's details, which you can see on our website (www.cwgc.org). I have also requested that his headstone be updated to reflect the correct age (Fiona Kingston)."

In 2023, his gravestone in Piershil was marked with his correct age at death: 37.

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• Photo 1: Heuvel, v.d., H., In Memoriam Robert Wyatt (Bob) Echlin (2024)
• Photo 2: Pieter Schlebaum
• - Heuvel, v.d., H., In Memoriam Robert Wyatt (Bob) Echlin (2024)
  - Cemetery
  - Vliegtuigcrashes nabij Piershil (crash 2 – 10 mei 1940, 12.15 uur) – WO2 Hoeksche Waard
  

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