Buried in Fort Worth, Canadian WWI pilots honored on Memorial Day

Following a ceremony in Greenwood Memorial Park honoring the Royal Flying Corps, the Pattison family of Keller took a close look at the headstones of the Canadian airmen.

The Pattisons, who came to the U.S. seven years ago from England, didn’t know the airmen were buried in Fort Worth until they saw a sign in a neighbor’s yard advertising the Memorial Day event, honoring the 100th anniversary of the airmen who died while training here, Catherine Pattison said.

Pattison and her husband, Alan, decided it would be a good history lesson for their children William, 12, and Emily, 9. It was also a nice way to spend Memorial Day with her mother, Shirley Saunders, who is visiting from Wales for six weeks.

“We wanted to pay tribute and show the kids what Memorial Day is really about,” Pattison said. “It’s important for them to come and learn.”

The family was among nearly 200 people attending a touching ceremony that featured the Fort Worth Scottish Pipes and Drums, and flyovers of biplanes flown by C.K. Lee and David Tatum, and four F-16s by the 301st Fighter Wing based at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth.

It was one of several Memorial Day services in North Texas, including at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, Moore Memorial Garden in Arlington and Mount Olivet Cemetery in Fort Worth.

In the fall of 1917, following the United States’ entrance into World War I, Canadian pilots came to 28 airfields in the United States to train American pilots for aerial warfare. Three fields were in Tarrant County: Taliaferro No. 1, which would later be known as Hicks Field; Taliaferro No. 2 in Everman, which became known as Barron Field; and Taliaferro No. 3 in Benbrook, which became known as Carruthers Field.

Between November 1917 and April 1918, 39 lost their lives to accidents and other causes here. Of those, 11 Canadian and British cadets and one American are buried in Greenwood.

Lt. Gen. Pierre St-Amand, Royal Canadian Air Force, deputy commander, and North American Aerospace Defense Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, told the veterans how grateful everyone in the crowd is for their service.

“Let me assure you, for the veterans and those of us who are still in active service, it means a lot that you took some time to come here to witness this ceremony,” St-Amand said.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Royal Flying Corps presence in Fort Worth is also a celebration of a century of “unmatched military cooperation” between the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom, he said.

“In the last 100 years, we’ve fought together in World War II, Korea, Afghanistan and now Iraq and Syria. Our service men and women work closely together today,” he said.

St-Amand spoke of how the people of Fort Worth warmly welcomed the Canadian pilots. “Friendships were made between aviators of both nationalities,” he said.

Retired Brig. Gen. David Kettle, secretary general of the Canadian Agency of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, said services like the one at Greenwood are a reminder of how fast, furious and hazardous the training was for the fearless pilots.

“Such gatherings ensure we never forget the terrible cost of our freedom, the freedom that can never be taken for granted or considered a privilege that comes with paying taxes,” Kettle said. “These war graves testify to the fact that freedom truly belongs only to those willing to pay the price as well as to those who take the time to honor them.”

This story was originally published May 29, 2017 at 3:02 PM with the headline "Buried in Fort Worth, Canadian WWI pilots honored on Memorial Day."