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P/O Philip Alan Kingston (J/85533) was a bomb aimer with the Royal Canadian Air Force. A native of native of Regina, Saskatchewan, he was killed in action on 17 June, 1944. He is buried in the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands. P/O Kingston was the son of Joseph George and Lillian Marion Kingston. Kingston Lake is named in his memory.

No. 434 Squadron Halifax Mk III LK792 (fuselage markings WL-N) took off from its base at Croft at 22:58 to attack a synthetic oil plant at Sterkrade, Germany. The aircraft was shot down by a night-fighter and crashed at Otterlo (Gelderland, Holland), ten km northeast from the centre of Ede. All aboard were killed and initially buried at Ede. Since 1945, four of the RCAF airmen have been taken to Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery. It is noted that the pilot, P/O McQueen had logged at least 32 operations.

321 aircraft were involved in the attack on Sterkrade. Thick cloud limited the success of the raid. 31 of the 321 aircraft were lost including 22 of the 162 Halifaxes (13.6%) involved in the attack. No. 77 Squadron lost a staggering 7 of its 23 aircraft.


      The crewmembers of WL-N were:

      • Sgt. Mike Habiluk RCAF
      • P/O W.M. McQueen RCAF
      • P/O D.F. McAllister RCAF
      • F/S C.T. Beech RCAF
      • P/O Philip Alan Kingston RCAF
      • F/S A. Warrington RAF
      • Sgt W.G. Pearcy RAF


[ photo courtesy Doug Chisolm; woodland dot photos at sasktel.net ]



Kingston Lake is one of a number of lakes in Saskatchewan that honour its citizens who were killed in action during World War II.



Doug Chisolm of La Ronge, Saskatchewan is a pilot and the author of "Their Names Live On," a 280 page book that tells the stories of eighty-nine young Saskatchewan men that gave their lives during World War II that the future world could be free. Doug has collected the stories and photos from his personal contact with the many family members he has communicated with. There are also coloured aerial photographs of some of the lakes, rivers and islands that have been named after soldiers, sailors and airmen from Saskatchewan that did not return when the war was over.

During August, 2005 Doug, together with three members of the Kingston family, travelled by float plane to Kingston Lake in northern Saskatchewan to place a bronze plaque in memory of Philip Kingston.

The members of the Kingston family were Philip's nephews Ray Kingston and Gordon Kingston and his grand-nephew Darrin Kingston of Lethbridge, Alberta.









The bronze plaque honouring P/O Kingston.






















The Kingston Family's camp on Kingston Lake.





















The Kingston Family at Memorial Bay
(l-r Darrin Kingston, Gordon Kingston, Ray Kingston)





Kingston Lake




Bomber Command Museum of Canada