WESTGATE, Marion Mercedes
Age at Death: 26
Rank Nursing Sister
Unit Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division
Service Number C24609
Place of Burial Regina Cemetery, SK
Date of Birth 1917.02.27
Place of Birth Regina SK
Enlistment January 1943, Regina SK
Date of Death 1943.10.27
Daughter of Robert James Westgate and Christie Mercedes Westgate, of Regina
Marion was the daughter of Saskatchewan’s City Commissioner. She received a BA from the University of Saskatchewan, followed by a nursing degree from the Regina Hospital. She also briefly worked as a nurse in Bermuda. In her application, she stated that she chose the RCAF because “I feel that the realization of the vast commonwealth air training plan is just the beginning of development in a new sphere which will develop even more after the war.” She was accepted as a Nursing Sister with the rank of Pilot Officer and sent to the Elementary Flying Training School in Regina in March 1943.
That October, she embarked on a familiarization night flight with Pilot Officer Denis Clive Bishop. Skies were clear when the plane took off, but dense fog soon moved in, creating zero visibility. The airplane crashed while attempting to land. It was described as “completely demolished,” and both officers aboard were killed. An investigation found that Flying Officer P. D. Meyers (who was also implicated in the fatal crash that killed Section Officer Rose Jette Goodman in January 1943) had failed to adequately check the weather forecast that night, and he was relieved of duty.
