Minton, Harold Douglas (Flight Lieutenant)

6 Advanced Flying Unit. Flight Lieutenant Minton was repatriated from 4 Canadian General Hospital, England and died of natural causes in the Colonel Belcher Hospital, Calgary, Alberta.

Newspaper obituary dated 30 March 1945, "Answers Last Roll Call" (the name of the newspaper is not on the clipping; transcribed as printed):

On Saturday last there passed away in Calgary one of Fernie's brightest and most promising young men in the person of Flying Officer Harold Douglas Minton, aged 23, son of the late Lieutenant Harold Minton and Mrs. Millie Minton, of Fernie. A member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, he had only been overseas a few months when he was injured in a landing accident. His injury seemed very unimportant, but later complications developed and his case became serious. He was invalided home to Canada on the hospital ship Lady Nelson. Brought west to the Colonel Belcher Hospital at Calgary, everything that medical science could do was unveiling [sic] and he passed away on March 24th. His wife and mother went up to Calgary and remained with him until the end.

Deceased was a young man of sterling character, loved and respected by all who knew him. With the exception of a short time when the family resided in Nelson, he spent all his life in Fernie. He was particularly active in High School affairs during his student days and was an outstanding member of the debating team. He was married on January 1st, 1944, to Ada Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Littler, of this city.

The funeral was held in Fernie on Tuesday from Christ Church, the beautiful service being conducted by Archdeacon B. A. Resker, of Kimberley. It was most impressive and the church was crowded to the doors. The floral offerings were numerous and very beautiful. In the funeral procession was a contingent from the local branch of the Canadian Legion, a firing squad from the Rocky Mountain Rangers, and a bugler from the High School Air Cadets.

The pallbearers were Harold White, Whir [sic] Brown, Norman Bartlett, Richard Large, Thomas Wilson and D. M. Mitchell.

At the cemetery they laid Douglas to rest beside his father (an air veteran of the first Great War) in a beautiful spot overlooking the Elk Valley.

The sympathy of the whole community goes out to the bereaved family. Mrs. Minton has indeed been sorely tried by grief. In a few short years she has lost a husband, a father, a sister, and now a son.

The surviving members of the family are his wife, mother and sister, Mildred, in Fernie, and his brother, Lac. Jack Minton, in the overseas airforce.