JAMES, Elsie Phyllis
Age at Death: 20
Rank Leading Aircraftwoman
Unit Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division
Service Number W305220
Place of Burial Old Banff Cemetery, AB
Date of Birth 1923.05.10
Place of Birth Banff AB
Enlistment July 8, 1942, Calgary AB
Date of Death 1943.06.03
Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney James, of Banff
Known by her middle name Phyllis, she had a twin sister who died in childbirth and a younger brother who died at eight days old. She enlisted in July 1942, but encountered health problems soon thereafter, and was admitted to hospital twice that year. In May of 1943, she was hospitalized again with an enlarged goitre. Phyllis underwent surgery a few weeks later to remove a thyroid tumour, but died after the operation. Her cause of death was listed as acute hyperthyroidism. A music lover, among her effects were song books, a gramophone and a box of records, all of which were kept by her unit. She had been engaged to be married to an Army Major.
Following her death, her mother, Nellie James, wrote a series of anguished and accusatory letters to the RCAF, convinced that the operation had been botched, that her daughter’s personal effects had been stolen and her clothes deliberately dirtied. LAW James’ death was investigated to ease her mother’s concerns, and Air Marshall L.S. Breadner wrote a stern memo to his staff, demanding that they avoid technical jargon in their correspondence: “…she has asked for and is entitled to a report in clear and simple terms that she can understand.”
Eventually the tone of Mrs. James’ letters calmed somewhat, though a 1945 letter stated “all that I ask still is revenge for those who helped to kill her, the one I love so dearly.” For many years she placed a memoriam in the local newspaper commemorating her daughter, as late as 1959.