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on august 9 1989 a solemn ceremony was held on a hillside outside the town of onogawa
in japan the townsfolk and a handful of foreign guests gathered to dedicate a monument to a fallen
airman who in the final days of the second world war sacrificed his life pressing home a suicidal
attack on an enemy ship but his courageous act was carried out not by a japanese pilot but rather a
canadian on august 9 1945 royal navy pilot hampton grey became among the last canadians to die in the
war and the last to be awarded the victoria cross the british commonwealth's highest award for valor
his heroic sacrifice would earn him honours and undying respect not only in his home country
but that of his former enemy robert hampton grey was born on november the 2nd 1917 in trail british
columbia the eldest of three children born to jeweler and berwar veteran john gray and his wife
wilhelmina soon after robert's birth the family moved to the town of nelson where john gray was
later elected to town council hampton grade known to his friends as hammy was described by those who
knew him as an affable irreverent fun-loving boy fond of joking and doing impressions of
his friends an excellent student and athlete gray graduated from high school in 1936 and enrolled at
the university of alberta where he spent two years before transferring to the university of british
columbia to study medicine at ubc gray became heavily involved in campus social activities
serving as house manager for the phi delta theta fraternity and associate editor of the yearbook
alongside a young pierre burton who would go on to become one of canada's greatest journalists and
history writers in the summer of 1940 following the lightning german invasion of france and the
low countries gray and two of his classmates dropped their studies to enlist in the royal
canadian naval volunteer reserve or rcnvr sailing from halifax on september 13 for basic training at
hms rally in england seeking a faster route to an officer's commission in december gray transferred
to the royal navy's fleet era after a three-month course in basic seamanship at gazport in march
1941 gray began basic flight training at number 24 elementary flight training school in luton
just outside of london he proved to be a natural pilot and was sent back to canada for advanced
training as part of the british commonwealth air training plan or bcatp this massive undertaking
was one of canada's greatest contributions to the war effort between 1939 and 1945 trained 131
500 commonwealth air force personnel hampton grey completed his advanced training at number
31 service flying training school in kingston ontario and was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant
in september 1941. gray's first posting was to 757 naval air squadron based in winchester england but
he was soon transferred to south africa where for two years he flew hawker hurricane fighters on
shore based patrols for number 795 803 and 877 squadrons these patrols were intended to defend
the african coast against attacks by the japanese but following the american victory at the battle
of midway in june 1942 this threat quickly tapered off and gray was assigned to 795 squadron based in
nairobi kenya in february 1942 gray received the tragic news that his younger brother jack who had
joined up in 1939 at the age of 18 had been killed when his handly page hammed an aircraft crashed in
england while returning from a bombing mission over germany in a strange coincidence jack was
the first man from the town of nelson to be killed in the war while his brother hampton would be the
last after four years of training and patrol flying hampton grey finally got to see action
in august 1944 when his squadron number 1841 based aboard the aircraft carrier hms formidable was
tasked with attacking the german battleship to pitts at its anchorage at k-forward norway the
sistership of the famous bismarck which had been sunk by a royal navy task force in 1941 tibits
had been a perpetual thorn in the ally side for the entire war threatening at any moment to break
out into the atlantic and wreak havoc on merchant shipping wary of a repeat of the bismarck debacle
however the germans had elected to keep the tibet hidden away in various norwegian fords out of the
reach of allied aircraft but a very existence posed such a threat that the allied commanders
had ordered her destruction at any cost the rate to which grey's squadron was assigned
codenamed operation goodwood followed a string of unsuccessful attempts to sink the tibits including
several carrier-based torpedo bomber raids and an attack by x-craft [ __ ] submarines that succeeded
in putting the battleship out of commission for six months for operation goodwood gray now a full
lieutenant and flying the powerful american-built bought f4u corsair was tasked with escorting and
protecting a flight of 16 fairy barracuda torpedo bombers as they made their attack onto pits
after being postponed twice due to poor weather the attack was finally launched august 24
1944 braving withering fire from ship and shore-based anti-aircraft batteries gray
led his flight on daring point-blank attacks with bombs and machine guns in order to draw the german
guns away from the slow torpedo bombers during one such attack grace corsair received a direct hit
from a 40 millimeter anti-aircraft shell nearly blowing the aircraft's rudder clean off despite
the massive damage on his return gray patiently circle-formidable for 40 minutes rather than
disrupt the regular landing pattern ultimately operation goodwood was unsuccessful resulting in
heavy allied losses and only minor damage to the pits it would not be until november 12 1944 that
the mighty battleship would finally be sunk using massive tall boy earthquake bombs dropped by royal
air force lancaster bombers nonetheless gray had proved himself a natural and capable leader of men
and was mentioned in dispatches for his quote undaunted courage skill and determination
in carrying out daring attacks on the tibits following the allied breakout from normandy in
july 1944 naval operations in the european theater gradually began to wind down and in september hms
formidable was sent to the pacific to join the fight against the japanese arriving in sydney on
march the 19th 1945. in may the fleet was sent to the tsakoshima island at the extreme southern end
of japan to take out japanese airfields supporting the defense of okinawa this involved launching
near round-the-clock airstrikes as the japanese were able to repair the airfields almost as fast
as the allies could destroy them however on may 4 the escorting battleships and cruisers were called
away to carry out shore bombardment stripping the carriers of much of their defensive anti-aircraft
screen this allowed japanese kamikaze aircraft to break through with indomitable receiving
two glancing hits and formidable and victorious two direct hits each killing nine crew wounding 47
and destroying 30 aircraft on may 22nd formidable returned to sydney for much needed repairs the
ship returned to service on june 28th just in time to participate in the final push on the
japanese home islands before the planned invasion codenamed operation downfall could take place all
japanese naval and aerial resistance first had to be eliminated while most of her carriers and major
battleships had already been sunk the japanese imperial navy still had some 2 000 smaller craft
hidden in bays and coves around the home island waiting to make desperate kamikaze-style attacks
on the approaching allied fleet it was these ships that the british pacific fleet was now tasked with
destroying formidable arrived off the west coast of honshu on july the 8th and over the next month
launched a series of attacks on nigata hosi and shikoku island on july 28th hampton grey attacked
japanese destroyer near my suru an act from which he was recommended for the distinguished service
cross the third highest award for gallantry behind the conspicuous gallantry medal and
the victoria cross on august 6 the tone of the fighting changed dramatically as the u.s air
force dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of hiroshima anticipating that the end of the
war was just around the corner the commander of the hms formidable advised his airmen not
to take any undue risk nevertheless at 8 35 am on august 9 the same day the second atomic bomb was
dropped on nagasaki hampton grey and his wing of seven corsairs prepared to launch an attack on
matsushima airfield at the last minute however gray was informed that the airfield had already
been bombed and that if it proved to be out of commission gray was to seek out and attack any
targets of opportunity finding that matsushima had indeed been destroyed grey diverted his wing to
nearby onagawa bay where they came upon a number of japanese ships including the destroyers amakusa
ahama and sawyer and several sweepers and other smaller vessels approaching low from the mainland
to avoid anti-aircraft fire gray and his fellow pilots swooped into the bay and lined up with
their chosen targets anti-aircraft batteries on the ships and the surrounding hills immediately
opened fire filling the air with a hailstorm of traces dropping down to just a few feet off the
water gray headed straight for the amakusa and lined up his bombsites on the run to the target
one of his two 500-pound bombs was shot away by a stray anti-aircraft shell but gray managed to
release the second and score a direct hit the bomb penetrated the hull near the engine room igniting
the near magazine and touching off a massive explosion within minutes the yamakusa rolled over
and sank to the bottom of the bay taking 71 of her 150 crew down with her the hampton grey would pay
dearly for his victory while pulling up from his bombing run his aircraft was struck by
anti-aircraft fire it burst into flame and plunged into the bay neither grey's aircraft nor his body
were ever recovered upon witnessing the death of his friend and leader gray's second-in-command
sub-lieutenant mckinnon immediately took command of the wing and pressed home the attack resulting
in the sinking of most of the japanese ships and the deaths of 158 japanese sailors
japanese accounts of the battle noted the tenacity and valor displayed by the pilots who continued to
attack until all their bombs and ammunition had been expended the following day aircraft from
the formidable returned on gawa bay and sank 14 of the 15 remaining ships that evening the japanese
government accepted the allied terms of surrender while the formal instruments of surrender would
not be signed until five days later for the men and women of the allied armed forces the war
was effectively over for his daring final attack on amakusa on august 31 1945 robert hampton gray
was posthumously awarded the distinguished service cross and on november 13th the victoria cross the
last canadian to be so honored grey's official victoria cross citation reads
for great valor in leading from the aircraft carrier formidable an attack on a japanese
destroyer in onagawa wan in the japanese island of honshu on august 9 1945. in the face of fire from
shore batteries and a heavy concentration of fire from some five warships lieutenant grey pressed
home his attack flying very low in order to ensure success although he was hit and his aircraft was
in flames he obtained at least one direct hit sinking the destroyer lieutenant gray has shown
a brilliant fighting spirit and most inspiring leadership it is also claimed that gray was the
very last canadian to die in the second world war however this dubious honor actually belongs
to another member of gray's flight lieutenant g anderson who crashed on landing while returning
from the ongawa raid not that this fact was any comfort to grey's family who only received word
of their son's death after the announcement of the japanese surrender as gray's niece dr
ann george later recalled the timing was just tragic for them they thought the war is over
and hampton is coming home grey's victoria cross was officially presented to his family on february
27 1946 four years to the day after the death of his brother jack and there
the story might have ended but while grey's fellow canadians never forgot his heroic sacrifice
neither did the japanese in the 1980s an onagawa shopkeeper named yoshi kander began a campaign to
erect a memorial to hampton grey at the same time terry milne canada's military attache to japan was
also pushing for the creation of a monument though apprehensive on account of the 149
japanese civilians killed during the august 9th attack both men approached the mayor of ongawa
zenyiro suda with their proposal to their surprise sudan who was a boy had witnessed grey's heroic
deed readily agreed and a granite memorial was carved in victoria british columbia and erected
overlooking onagawa bay on august 9th 1989 in the presence of gray's sister phyllis his niece
anne and surviving crew members from the amakusa the memorial was officially dedicated the only
monument to a foreign serviceman on japanese soil the memorial to hampton grey stood for 22 years
until being destroyed by the march 11 2011 tohoku earthquake and tsunami the disaster devastated
the town of ongawa killing 1 300 of its 10 000 residents including the daughter of yoshikanda
and her husband the town however quickly approved funds to build a new monument which was
erected on the grounds of the local hospital and rededicated in august 2012. while a memorial to
a long forgotten battle may seem like a strange priority amid the destruction wrought by the
earthquake by this time the monuments and the legacy of hampton grey had come to mean so much
more to the people of onagawa as the official program for the rededication ceremony reads
it is more than a monument to a great canadian it goes beyond the symbol of the friendship and
bonds that have grown between onagawa and the embassy of canada in tokyo with nelson with
canada today shows that onagawa is recovering from the devastation of march 11 2011. we cannot forget
the tragedy of march 11th like we cannot forget the events of world war ii but like then with
positive attitudes and strong will we can overcome the loss the destruction and the tragedy and work
together to build something stronger and better so i do hope you found today's video interesting if
you did please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe thank you for watching
you