105 West River Street

Flight Officer Arthur Edward Shaw

Arthur “Tubby” Shaw was the youngest son of English immigrants Arthur and Edith Shaw. The family lived at 105 West River Street. He attended Paris High School for four years and was active in juvenile hockey and lacrosse. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in June 1940. He was one of the youngest wireless air gunners to graduate from the Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Alberta. He was 18 years old when he graduated from the No.4 Bombing and Gunnery School in Fingal. He went overseas to Europe in March 1941 and was assigned to 70 Squadron.

He was on many operational raids, including carrying paratroops to enemy held points on the Continent. A few months previous to his death, he was mentioned in dispatches for devotion to duty by risking his own life, shutting off his oxygen supply at high altitude to assure enough oxygen to protect the lives of the rest of his bomber crew.

Arthur was killed in action on November 25 1943. His airplane was shot down in a night raid near Montecane in Sicily. He had just recently volunteered for service with the Royal Air Force in North Africa. He is buried in the Agira Canadian War Cemetery which is situated on a hill in the Commune of Agira, Province of Enna, in central Sicily.

Arthur’s sister, Lance Corporal Edith Shaw, served with the Canadian Women’s Air Corps in Aurora. His brother Sergeant James Shaw, served as a gunner with a light anti-aircraft battery in Italy.

(Much of this information is taken from the Canadian Virtual War Memorial created by Veterans Affairs Canada)