Pilot Officer William K. Ferguson of Peterborough, Ontario, was only 22 years of age in 1943 when his plane crashed on a mission near St-Martin-des-Entrees in north west France. He and his squadron of Spitfires had been accompanying a bombing mission when, on their return, they spotted a German munitions train and decided to attack it. It would seem that they had taken several runs at the train, so intent were they on preventing it from reaching its destination. Being the leader of the squadron, Ferguson would have felt particularly responsible for ensuring that their attack was successful. So much so that he was late in lifting up again out of his dive and so crashed his plane in the process. Some reports suggested that he had actually flown his plane into the train in an effort to stop it in his tracks.
Whatever happened, Fergusons actions were nothing short of heroic that day. The significance of what he did was in hampering German efforts to fortify that part of northeastern France which, in a just a few short months, would become the site of the Normandy D-Day landings.
Also, Ferguson succeeded in giving the local French people new hope. Up until that time, their sources of trustworthy news were far and few between and, being constantly bombarded by German propaganda, they believed the Germans were winning the war. However, seeing Ferguson and his squadron attacking the Germans, gave them new hope.
After the war, William Ferguson’s parents – who were members of St. Paul’s – had a stained glass window installed on the east side of the sanctuary in memory of their son. Also the people of St-Martin-des-Entrees decided to honour the young pilot and his heroism by naming one of their streets Rue Ferguson. Ferguson’s grave is situated in the cemetery of this small French town.
(Thank you to Lee Walsh of Toronto, Ontario and François Oxéant of Normandy, France, for additional material and photographs.)
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