Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria to coincide with the OMRS Convention

Five: Flight Lieutenant C. S. Moir, Royal Canadian Air Force

1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, France and Germany; Defence Medal, silver; Canadian Voluntary Service Medal, with overseas clasp; War Medal, silver, with related Canadian Memorial Cross, G.VI.R., the reverse inscribed ‘F.L. C. S. Moir, J23484’, and W.A.G. embroidered brevet, extremely fine (6) £150-200

Corson Stewart Moir was born in Glasgow in October 1923 but was resident in Ottawa, Ontario by the outbreak of hostilities. Enlisting in the Royal Canadian Air Force in November 1941, he qualified as a Wireless Operator / Air Gunner, was commissioned in January 1943 and completed a tour of operations with No. 145 (R.C.A.F.) Squadron, a Coastal Command unit operating out of Newfoundland. Then in April 1944 he was embarked for the U.K. and, having attended No. 22 O.T.U., was posted to No. 432 Squadron that November. Sadly, however, on the night of 21-22 February 1945, having completed over 20 operational sorties, his Halifax was brought down near Dirmstein, all but one crew member dying. The survivor, a Flight Sergeant F. T. McLachlan, afterwards stated that at the time of him baling out of the stricken aircraft, ‘the port rudder and tail, and also part of the turret were on fire.’ Accompanying research reveals the impressive lengths taken by post-war investigators to establish the fate of Moir’s crew and their final resting place:

‘According to several local inhabitants a number of these airmen baled out before the crash and were apprehended in the district. One of these airmen, Sergeant C. W. Sibley, whom they described as a tall man, was taken to a house near Dirmstein cemetery and there killed by Ortsgruppenleiter Wolfert. Details of Sergeant Sibley’s death are already in your possession. One body was found near the aircraft and it would appear to be that of Sergeant A. C. Widdowson, the pilot, who remained in the aircraft to the last, in a gallant and successful attempt to allow his crew to bale out.’

As it transpired, Sergeant Sibley was from another crew lost that night, but the remainder of the report, if accurate, undoubtedly suggests that 21 year old Moir met a similar fate. He was eventually re-interred in the Rheinberg War Cemetery, near Krefeld.