Price, Charles Melville

Date of birth:: May 12th, 1913 (Toronto/Ontario, Canada)
Date of death:: January 31st, 1944 (Haarlemmerliede, The Netherlands)
Buried on:: Commonwealth War Graves Communal Cemetery Zwanenburg
Plot: B. Row: C. Grave: 15.
Service number:: R/182206
Nationality:: Canadian

Biography

Charles was born on May 12 1913 in Toronto, the son of Charles Harry Price and Eliza Adelaide Price nee Simpson of Toronto. They were married on August 25 1908 in Toronto. He was married on December 13 1943 in Brantford Middlesex England with Hazel Joyce Price nee Hughes of London England. His sisters were Carolyn Adelaide, Lilley Georgina and Copp Isabel Jane Price.

He was a chaser and member of the Anglican Church. His hobbies were weightlifting and collecting stamps and his sports were baseball, basketball and rugby.

He enlisted on July 27 1942 in Toronto and he went thereafter on May 4 1943 from New York USA overseas to the UK.

Charles was killed in action on Monday January 31 1944 age 30 due to a crash at the Machineweg 10 in Haarlemmerliede before or after an attack on Berlin in Germany. They crashed then at a farmhouse and six members of the van der Bijl family were also killed then. The crashed airplane was so deeply embedded in the ground that it was not uncovered till 2001 when the six missing and killed crew members including Gordon Williams were yet found in the aircraft. They were buried on November 29 2001 then finally at the general cemetery in Zwanenburg.

The other fallen RCAF crew member was W/O Gordon I. Williams age 21 in grave B-C-15. The other fallen RAF Volunteer Reserve crew members were Sgt Leslie Clifton age 20 in grave B-C-15, Sgt William J. Jones age 21 in grave B-C-15 and Sgt Douglas F. Hicks age 24 in grave B-C-15. The other fallen RAAF crew members were P/O Allan R. Hart age 22 in grave B-C-15 and F/Sgt Harold J. Boal age 20 in grave B-C-15.

There is a monument near the crash site.

He served with the 97 (R.A.F.) Squadron, Pathfinder Force Royal Canadian Air Force.

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