Sergeant Pilot Irwin C. Ross

Sgt. Pilot Irwin C. Ross was born in 1917 and was the youngest of 5 children of Charles and Bella Ross. They had three sons and two daughters. His family originally lived in Macleod, Alberta. They then moved to Charlottetown, P.E.I. where he was born.  When Irwin was a young child, the family moved to Summerside. His early years were filled with tragedy. His oldest sister died before Irwin was born and his mother passed away on Christmas Eve from tuberculosis when he was two years old. A couple of years later, his older brother, the 3rd in the family, died in a fire. That left Irwin’s family with only his father, older brother and sister, and himself.  

Irwin attended Summerside High School where one of his favorite pastimes was playing hockey for the school team. He graduated from high school, which was uncommon at that time, as most of the boys went off to fight in the war as soon as they were old enough. After high school, Irwin started working for a local veterinarian named Dr. Cunningham. He wanted to become a veterinarian but instead decided to enlist in the war. He joined the military in October 1940 at the age of 23.  Due to the fact that he had graduated from high school, he was given the opportunity became a pilot as the army was looking for intelligent men for officer positions. He left for training, very optimistic about the war and hoped to be home soon.
Irwin’s training took place over the next year. He trained at air bases in Regina Saskatchewan, and Lethbridge, and Macleod, Alberta. Irwin trained with two different planes. The first was the Tiger Moth, a single engine trainer plane. He then moved to the Avro Anson Mk. II, a multi-engine training plane that was also functional for combat operations and missions.

On October 7th 1941, training was over for Irwin and he was shipped out to a small town off the Scottish coast, called Wigtown, close to the city of Dumfries. This was where Irwin’s training was put to the test. Irwin acted as the pilot, normally in a four-person crew. The crew probably was composed of one pilot, a navigator and two gunners. Most of his missions took place in and around the North Sea due to Scotland’s close proximity to Germany. However, because of this proximity, enemy forces also constantly bombed the Wigtown base. Nevertheless, Irwin continued to do his missions diligently.

On January 13th 1942, he was shot out of the sky by enemy forces over the North Sea. The R.C.A.F. declared Irwin Ross K.I.A. (Killed in Action) on April 22nd of the same year. He was 24 years old. According to his official R.C.A.F. Pilot Log he had completed 23 flights out of Wigtown. His body was buried in the Kirkinner cemetery, located in a community close to Wigtown. Most of his belongings were sent back to Canada to his older sister Verna. He left this earth without marrying. Irwin Ross is remembered by his nephew, Donald Ross and his wife Margaret, along with their son Steven.

-Luke Thompson