Pilot Officer Hugh Boyd Gilmore

Hugh Boyd Gilmore, [ca. 1943]. City of Richmond Archives, photograph # 1998 2 1

Birth: October 31, 1923 in Vancouver, BC

Death: August 1, 1944 Sailly, France

Service: WWII

Service Number: J90250

Biography:

Hugh Boyd Gilmore, known as Boyd, graduated from Richmond High School in 1940 and worked for his father, Samuel Hugh Gilmore, on the family farm at 695 Shell Road. His mother Gertrude Elsie Kidd, was the fifth child of Thomas and Letitia Kidd. He had one sister, Audrey, born in 1920 who married Thomas Wylie in 1941. Boyd was a member of the Presbyterian Church and played lacrosse and football.  

On enlistment in the Royal Canadian Air Force in Vancouver November 18, 1942, Boyd was posted to Edmonton. He was also stationed at several bases in Quebec during his training as an Air Gunner. He was posted overseas in October 1943.  Boyd was first posted to a Royal Air Force base at Bournemouth, England, and then taken on strength at RCAF #429 Bison Squadron in April 1944. He was promoted to Pilot Officer Air Gunner on July 30, 1944.

The Halifax aircraft LV950 failed to return from an operational attack on Coquereaux, France after leaving base on July 31, 1944. Boyd Gilmore was listed as missing, presumed killed on August 1, 1944 along with the other six members of his crew. Boyd was on his twenty-second operational flight. In February 1945 he was officially listed as presumed dead, and word was received in March 1945 that he had been buried in the cemetery at St. Martin Aux Bosc, France. Information received from German sources stated that the aircraft had been hit by flak at 0.25 hours August 1, 1944 and had exploded, killing all aboard.

History of the Road Name (Gilmore Crescent):

• Council Resolution to adopt road name: Council Minutes February 4, 1946, res. 8711, pg. 45