Harvey Sterling Glinz

Harvey Sterling Glinz was born on 2 March 1922 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the son of Ernest and Pearl Glinz, and worked as a clerk for the Hudson’s Bay Company before the war. He volunteered for the Royal Canadian Air Force in September 1941, trained as an air gunner — passing first in his class in February 1942 — and after crossing to Britain flew his early operations with No. 61 Squadron from late 1942, taking part in raids on targets such as Turin and Mannheim. In the spring of 1943 he joined the newly formed No. 617 Squadron as A Flight’s gunnery leader, helping to prepare the squadron’s air gunners for the low-level role that lay ahead. On the night of 16/17 May 1943 he flew as front gunner in Lancaster ED927 (AJ-E), captained by Flight Lieutenant Robert Barlow, one of the aircraft tasked against the Sorpe Dam during Operation Chastise. Outbound over Germany, while flying very low to evade defences, the Lancaster struck high-tension electricity cables near Haldern, a few kilometres east of Rees, and crashed, killing the entire crew. Glinz, who was 22, was first buried at the Nordfriedhof in Düsseldorf and after the war reinterred at Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, where he rests in grave 5.C.8.