| Rank | Pilot Officer |
| Service # | C/979 |
| Unit # | R.C.A.F. |
| Resident | Highgate |
Nationality: Canadian. Rank: Pilot Officer, Service: Royal Canadian Air Force. There were three pilots and one aircraftman aboard the aircraft that departed RCAF- Trenton including P/O. Lalonde, F/O. Clement Aircraftman Stemple along with P/O. J. G. Lee. The bomber crashed after being on a reconnaissance flight. The accident occurred nearly three miles northeast of the Trenton. A second aircraft flying a few hundred feet behind the fatal plane, were the first to notice that the lead plane was in difficulty.
The motor sputtered, the plane lost altitude suddenly and crashed into a small woods just south of the Third concession. An ambulance was sent out. A few more feet and the plane would have landed in a plowed field.
A crew section-men working on the Canadian National Railway track a hundred yard away from the crash scene were the first to arrive at the crash site. “The men were dead when we arrived.” Said one of the men. “Parts of the plane were strewn for a considerable distance in the woods.” “Being so used to hearing the planes overhead, we did not pay attention to it until we heard the crash in the woods.”
The bomber crashed about 12:50. The bomber was said to have been traveling 150 miles per hour when it went into a spin a section of bush. Airport firefighters rushed to the scene but there was no fire.
Age: 24, Date of Death: 29/11/1939, Service No: C/979. While flying a Air-Speed Oxford aircraft # 1509 at RCAF Trenton, ON. crashed. Also killed P/O’s G. T. Mahar, L. A. Clements and LAC L. S. Stempel. F/O John Gosnell Lee was the first fatality from Chatham-Kent in WWII.
Additional information: Son of James John and Frances Lee, of Highgate.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead, Grave/Memorial Reference: Plot 52.
Cemetery: HIGHGATE (GOSNELL) CEMETERY.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
| Sources | They Shall Grow Not Old, Orford Story 1827 – 1977, Globe & Mail (date 29/11), Windsor Daily Star (29/11) |
| Supplemental Information | Son of James John and Frances Lee, of Highgate. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead, Grave/Memorial Reference: Plot 52. Cemetery: HIGHGATE (GOSNELL) CEMETERY. |
| Age | 24 |
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