McGarry, Francis Wilfred (Frank)

Lieutenant

Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve attached Royal Navy

Killed in an aircraft accident on Saturday 8 September 1945 (aged 25)

Buried:

Ballycranbeg (Mount St. Joseph) Roman Catholic Churchyard, Co. Down (Grave 48)

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

De La Salle College (Oaklands) Toronto

Canadian Virtual War Memorial (Internet)

Canadian Second World War Book of Remembrance (Page 542)

BIOGRAPHY

Francis Wilfred (Frank) McGarry was born in Toronto, Ontario on 30 December 1919 and he was a son of Edward John McGarry (born 20 September 1880) and Agnes McGarry (nee Bailie, born January 1885).  They lived in Canada at 12 Alcina Avenue, Toronto.  Frank’s mother was a daughter of Adam and Sophia Bailie (nee Surgeon) who were married on 26 December 1879 in Rosemary (Ekenhead) Presbyterian Church, Belfast.  Edward John McGarry worked as a mailer (he moved newspapers from the printing press to the delivery truck) and he and Agnes Bailie were married in 1907.  They had at least four children:

Edward

Agnes May (born 28 January 1910)

James Maurice (born 18 July 1908; died of meningitis 29 July 1909)

Francis Wilfred (Frank, born 30 December 1919)

Frank McGarry attended De La Salle College (Oaklands) Toronto, he obtained a BA degree and, prior to joining up, he worked for the Otis Fensom Elevator Company in Hamilton, Ontario.  He lived at 175 Robinson Street, Hamilton.  During the Second World War Frank McGarry served with the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve attached to the Royal Navy and he died on 8 September 1945 (aged 25).  Records show that he was 5 feet 11½ inches tall with brown hair, blue eyes, and a fair complexion.  It is known that on 4 June 1944 he flew into New York from the Air Force Base in Stephenville in the Dominion of Newfoundland when he was in transit to Ottawa in Canada.

On 8 September 1945 Lieutenant (A) Frank Wilfred McGarry was flying a Chance Vought Corsair aircraft (JT357) of 768 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm based at Ballyhalbert when the engine failed and he crashed five miles south-south-west of the airfield near Ballycranbeg Roman Catholic Church.  He was attempting an emergency landing when his aircraft hit a wall and caught fire.

Lieutenant (A) Frank Wilfred McGarry was buried on 12 September 1945 in Ballycranbeg (Mount St. Joseph) Roman Catholic Churchyard and he is commemorated on the Second World War Memorial Plaque for former students in De La Salle College (Oaklands) Toronto; on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial (Internet) and on Page 542 in the Canadian Second World War Book of Remembrance.  There is an inscription on his CWGC headstone:

HERE I LIE

PRAY FOR ME

AS YOU PASS BY