102-year-old veteran an early hero in anti-sub defence
April 12, a contingent of service members from 14 Wing Greenwood made the trip to Yarmouth to present a special veteran with recognition of past service.
Lieutenant-Colonel Keith Fugger, VP International president and the commanding officer of 415 (Long Range Patrol and Force Development) Squadron, with Captain Rob Albert from 404 (Long Range Patrol and Training) Squadron presented Flight Lieutenant (retired) James McRae DFC CD with an honorary membership in the VP International organization. The presentation was made at the Veteran’s Wing of the Yarmouth Hospital, where McRae has resided since moving there in 2019 at the age of 102! Also present were several residents and staff, as well as his daughter, Susan McRae-Amon, and her husband, Frank Amon.
Albert had noticed James’ Distinguished Flying Cross during a Remembrance Day service in Yarmouth in 2019. Since then, members from 14 Wing Greenwood’s 404 Squadron have made several trips to visit McRae, the most recent being to help celebrate his 105th birthday in November, when they delivered a squadron’s share of the 900-plus birthday cards and wishes he received on the occasion. While researching McRae’s career, Albert discovered, not only is McRae a wartime hero, but he was also a squadron mate of someone familiar to personnel in Greenwood: McRae knew Flight Lieutenant David Hornell VC, the namesake of the Hornell Centre, housing both 14 Operations Support Squadron and 404 Squadron, which is responsible for training aircrew and technicians for the Aurora fleet.
McRae was part of No. 162 Squadron, formed in Yarmouth before moving to Iceland, where they were conducting interdiction operations against Axis U-boats prior and following D-Day operations in France. They were credited as being the Royal Canadian Air Force’s most successful anti-submarine squadron during the Second World War, with a final count of five U-boats destroyed, one shared sinking and one U-boat damaged. McRae and his crew’s successful sinking of a submarine (U-715) was only a few days prior to the downing of Hornell’s own aircraft after a successful sinking of another German U-boat (U-1225) and the subsequent loss of Hornell’s life, along with two of his crew. McRae’s incident June 13, 1944, also resulted in the downing of his Canso aircraft, and the loss of three crew as they awaited rescue in the frigid North Atlantic waters, hundreds of kilometres from the nearest land.
VP International is an international organization of maritime patrol communities. It started in Comox, British Columbia, in the mid-1960s. It has since expanded to over 26 countries with over 6,000 members, with its international headquarters here at 14 Wing Greenwood. Although roles have expanded greatly since its inception, the membership’s original (and still relevant) connection is the hunting of submarines. It only seemed fitting that McRae, a veteran responsible for sinking an actual submarine in wartime, well before VPI was conceived; should be a member of this exclusive alliance of fellow aviators.
