Page 9 - RCAF Centenary

And now on to others who served.
S/L Joseph Armand Jacques Chevrier (1917-1942)
The night of 5/6 July 1942 was a relatively calm with light winds and 30 km visibility over a point in the St. Lawrence River where it slightly pinches near St. Anne-des- Montes. Convoy Q-15 consisting of 12 merchant vessels and a Canadian Bangor-class minesweeper, Drummondville had assembled there for their voyage to Sydney then on to England with supplies vital to the war effort. Just after midnight the serenity of that evening was shattered as one of a volley of four torpedoes released from German U-132 captained by Ernst Vogelsang slammed into the Greek freighter Anastassios Pateras
which sank within 10 minutes. Two other torpedoes missed targets but the last tore a 1.2m hole in the starboard hull of the Belgian freighter Hainaut and within 20 minutes it too disappeared beneath the surface. An hour and 10 minutes later at 01:45 the merchant Dinaric was hit and sank.
An urgent call went out to RCAF Station Mont-Joli 130
km SW of the attack. There under the command of
Squadron Leader Jacques Chevrier, four Curtiss P-50
Kittyhawk’s of the anti-submarine 130 Panther Squadron
were scrambled into action departing from a ‘cold-start’ at 03:35. Two hours later and low on fuel, S/L Chevrier was returning to base when witnesses on the south shore near
Cap-Chat including the base adjutant heard two or three explosions from the aircraft in rapid succession, then watched as it dove into the river with black smoke coming from the engine.
Soon after an oil slick was noted but after two months grappling by boats from the RCAF and RCMP were fruitless. The aircraft and pilot were never found. Jacques, son of Dr. Aurele Chevrier, was eventually declared deceased and the Board of Inquiry concluded Jacques had no responsibility for the crash.
At the time of his death, Jacques had already the notable distinction of being a combat veteran, having been one of only 117 RCAF pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain in 1940, flying at least 23 sorties against the German Luftwaffe as a Hurricane pilot in the RCAF No. 1 (F)/No. 110 RAF Squadrons. He and those other heroes justly deserve the epitaph voiced by Winston Churchill ‘Never in the field of human conflict
was so much owed by so many to so few’. Further, after his return to
Canada, Jacques also had the honor to serve as the aide-de-camp to the Governor General, the Earl of Athlone, before
being posted as the first squadron leader of No. 1 (F) 130 at Mont-Joli. His records show he was an ‘above average pilot’.
As an interesting sidebar to his life and the Chevrier family, through his service in the Battle of Britain, qualified for the following medals: 1939-1945 Star with BoB Clasp, Air Crew Europe Star, and Defence, Canadian Volunteer Service
with Overseas Bar and 1939-1945 War Medals, all of which should have been posthumously presented to this father before he himself died in 1952. Efforts to bestow these honors to his extent family have been repeatedly rebuffed. Chevrier is the only RCAF pilot killed in action on Canadian soil against the enemy. He was 24 years old, just 3 months shy of his 25th birthday. As Canadians, we honour Chevrier for his service and his bravery. It is CHAA’s hope, and within its extensive experience, to find the remains of his Kittyhawk to draw further attention to those who served.