Born 11 February, 1918 in Wheatley, ON.  The son of Mr. and Mrs. Seth Derbyshire of Wheatley. Don was an honours business school graduate of the University of Western Ontario when he enlisted in the RCAF. 

Don was an honours business school graduate of the University of Western Ontario when he enlisted in the RCAF. 

After pilot training he was posted to 419 All-Weather Fighter Sqd. a part of Bomber Command operations. Don died two weeks before “D-Day”. He almost made it home. (Photo of Don in civilian dress).

KIA Date of Death: 23/05/1944, Age 21.

P/O Derbyshire was flying in Lancaster bomber # KB 717, target Dortmund, Germany. The bomber was shot down 1 ½ miles south of Monchen-Gladbach at Genhulsen, Germany during a night operation against the city of Dortmund. P/O Derbyshire and seven other crew members perished in the crash. Other members of the crew were Patterson C.E.G. P/O(P), P/O’s Bailey D. F., FS. Chawanski A.P., WO. Beckett A.C., F/O. Mitchell, FS. (RAF) Jones, O. and P/O (RAF) Wood, R.E.N.   This was P/O. Derbyshire’s 18^th operation.  Officially listed as MIA, it was not until 1948 that the registrar’s office at UWO received a letter from Germany containing two tattered photos and a letter from a German civilian who had salvaged them from a wrecked aircraft in which all of the crew had been killed. This was P/O. Derbyshire’s eighteenth operation. One of the photos showed three young men standing in front of the main entrance to the University of Western Ontario. Two of the men were immediately identified but the third took some time and turned out to be Don Derbyshire, his family finally had the confirmation they dreaded.   

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead, Grave/Memorial Reference: Coll. grave 3. H. 18-22. Cemetery: First burial at Monhen-Gladbach, Germany, exhumed and reburied in the War Cemetery at RHEINBERG, Germany.  (3.H.18-22)

The following paragraph information was supplied by John Jones:  419 Squadron Lancaster X KB717 VR- Dortmund – Took off from RAF Middleton St. George at 22:40.  Coned by 2/Flakscheinw about 581 (o).  Hit by 4 & 6/schw Flak about 244 (o) and 1,2,4 & 5/schw Flak about 401.  Crashed at Genhulsen at 01:23.    (Nachtjagd Combat Archives 1944 Part 3 – Theo Boiten)  The crew were initially buried in Monchengladbach Town Cemetery:  Pit Off Patterson – Plot 8 Row 10 Grave 409A; Fg Off Mitchell – Plot 8 Row 10 Grave 410; Sgt.  Wood – Plot 8 Row 10 Grave 410; Pit Off Bailey – Plot 8 Row 10 Grave 410; Pit Off Derbyshire – Plot 8 Row 10 Grave 410; Flt Sgt Chawanski – Plot 8 Row 1- Grave 411; Sgt Jones – Plot 8 Row 10 Grave 410; WOII Beckett – Plot 8 Row 10 Grave 411.  Reinterred 14 August 1946.

In 2006 Don’s sister, as a Silver Cross family, laid the wreath for Southwold Township.

Memorial – Pilot Officer Donovan Emmerson Derbyshire is also commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Sources	Found on the Wheatley cenotaph, Wheatley, ON. CWG, “They Shall Grow Not Old”, Canadian Virtual War Memorial, TSGNO, CWG, CVWM - Silver Cross Photo, J. Jones
Supplemental Information	Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead, Grave/Memorial Reference: Coll. grave 3. H. 18-22. Cemetery: First burial at Monhen-Gladbach, Germany, exhumed and reburied in the War Cemetery at RHEINBERG, Germany

Age	21
Birthplace	Wheatley, Ontario

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