In memory of

Pilot Officer

Keith Thomas Bielby

who died on 17 Aug 1944


Service details
  Conflict WWII
  Service RCAF
  Unit No. 158 Squadron, Royal Air Force
  Rank Pilot Officer
  Service number J89968
  Date of death 19440817
  Cause of death killed in action
Narrative history
  J89968 Pilot Officer (No. 158 Squadron RAF air gunner) Keith Thomas Bielby (b.1925) of Kelfield was KIA 19440817 and is buried at Stonefall cemetery, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. Bielby's Halifax crash landed at Foston-on-the-Wolds, East Riding Yorkshire, returning from a night raid on Kiel. He was the only son of Thomas Tyler and Verley Kathleen (Boyle, a nurse) Bielby who came from Morris township, Huron Co., Ontario, to a farm west of Kelfield in 1914, and Keith attended Kelfield and Wilkie schools. The family moved to the Loon River district southwest of Rapid View in 1938 but returned to Kelfield after Thomas' death. Keith enlisted at Saskatoon in 1943 just before his 18th birthday. Interestingly, Keith's plane crashed just two miles from their home base, and only about ten miles from the Bielby ancestral home at Weaverthorpe.
       A Glossary of abbreviations to help understand the terms used is available.
Images
  Attestation
Attestation
Service record
Service record
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Additional information
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Memorial information
  Saskatchewan rural municipality for commemoration 349 - Grandview
  Cemetery or memorial location Stonefall cemetery, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England    

Please click here to view the cemetery/memorial information on Commonwealth War Graves Commission
  Honour roll location(s) Kelfield
Meadow Lake
  Geo-memorial Bielby Lake, Saskatchewan     
  Geo-memorial location 55.55°N / 104.8°W
  Geo-memorial NTS map reference 73P10
  Geo-memorial details Three of Keith's sisters and their husbands traavelled to Bielby Lakewest of Missinipe to erect a plaque in 1994.
Personal information
  Date of birth 19250704
  Place of birth Kelfield    
  Date of enlistment 19430525
  Place of enlistment Saskatoon    
  Residence on enlistment Kelfield    
  Occupation student
Copyright Information
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