Dutton, James Roy

P/O James Roy Dutton was one of Canada's true patriots. He had served in the First Great War, going overseas as a cook. When this conflict began, despite the fact that he was well over the age for enlistment in the R.C.A.F., he was accepted for training on May 20, 1940, as a mechanic, and in December, 1941, was sent overseas. But P/O Dutton still felt he was not doing enough and he remustered in 1943 into aircrew and became a flight engineer of an R.A.F. secret mission squadron flying small arms to patriots in European countries. It was dramatically fitting that such a man, at the age of 47, who might have been living comfortably in peaceful Canada, should be serving those who defied the Nazi tyrants and strove for liberation. It was on such a mission over Europe on March 4, 1944, that the plane in which he was flying was shot down and all but one member of the crew was lost. He is buried in the Bernay Communal Cemetery at St. Croix, France. In civilian life P/O Dutton was a metal worker at the Brantford Coach and Body Limited. He was a member of the Mohawk Lodge, I.O.O.F., and was keenly interested in the Inter-Factory hockey league. He was the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. James Dutton.

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