My wife Ann had a much older cousin whom she never knew as he was killed in action before she was born. (Her father was the youngest of a large family, and his mother one of the oldest). Tommy was a Canadian, living in Toronto with his parents, and he wanted to help Britain defend herself against the nazis because of his mother being Scottish. Against her wishes he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and trained as a pilot and got himself seconded to the RAF where he flew Hampdens. On the night of 12th July 1942 he took off from RAF Waddington on a dangerous mission to lay mines off Lorient, on the Normandy coast of occupied France. His aircraft was shot down and he and all his crew perished. Two of the bodies were washed up on the coast and buried in France but Tommy and the other crew member were never found. He was just 21. I get very angry at people who call Canadians cowards.