Gnida, Mike
Personal Information
Rank | P/O |
Forename(s) | Mike |
Surname | Gnida |
Gender | M |
Age | 22 |
Date of Death | 09-10-1944 |
Next of Kin | Son of Samuel Gnida and Ann Gnida (née Kes), of Sandwich West , Ontario, Canada. |
Aircraft Information
Aircraft | Handley Page Halifax III |
Serial Number | MA567 |
Markings | MP-W |
Memorial Information
Burial/Memorial Country | Germany |
Burial/Memorial Place | Reichswald Forest War Cemetery |
Grave Reference | 8. B. 11. |
Epitaph |
IBCC Memorial Information
Phase | 2 |
Panel Number | 170 |
Enlistment Information
Service Number | J/95083 |
Service | Royal Canadian Air Force |
Group | 4 |
Squadron | 76 |
Squadron Motto | Resolute |
Trade | Air Gunner |
Country of Origin | Canada |
Other Memorials
Location | Behind old Main Guardroom, former Holme On Spalding Moor Airfield, East Yorkshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Stone Pillar with inscribed Metal Plaques |
Memorial Text | In Remembrance of the aircrew members from the UK,Australia,New Zealand,Canada and Norway,who gave their lives in the cause of freedom in operational sorties against the enemy from 76 Sqn 1941-1945 and to the ground personal who lost their lives by enemy |
Location | All Saints Church, Holme On Spalding Moor, East Yorkshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Stained Glass Window and Roll of Honour within Wooden Box with inscribed Metal Plaque |
Memorial Text | S G Window In memory of 76 Sqn R.A.F / Roll of honour In memory of those members of 76 Sqn R.A.F who were killed on active service 1939-1954 |
Location | Roadside location (off E6), Fættenfjord, near Åsenfjord, Trøndelag Fylke |
Country | Norway |
Memorial Type | Inscribed memorial stone atopped with inert aerial sea mine and Tirpitz anchor chain link |
Memorial Text |
For Frihet Til minne om Allierte Flymannskaper fra RAF drept under angrep pa det tyske slagskipet Tirpitz i Fættenfjord 1942
Translation "For freedom In memory of the Allied Aircrews from the RAF who died in attacks on the German Battleship Tirpitz in the Fættenfjord 1942 " |
Miscellaneous Information
Mike was born on 15 September 1922 at Sandwich West, Ontario. Both parents were born in Poland; his father in Warsaw. His father was a labourer and his mother was deceased by the time of Mike's enlistment. They lived in Windsor, Ontario. He had a brother Joseph who was a tool maker and two sisters Katherine and Mary. The schools he attended were Assumption Street School, Windsor 1929-1936 followed by Windsor Vocational 1936-1940. Mike enjoyed football, baseball and bowling. He worked at the Canadian Bridge Co., in Windsor, Ontario, during 1940 as a machinist and then at Advance Machine & Tool, also in Windsor, between 1940 and 1943. |
He enlisted on 24 June 1943 and after training was posted to the U.K. He embarked from Halifax on 5 March 1944, arriving in the U.K. at RCAF(RAF) PRC on 15 March 1944 and then continued to 10 OTU 28 March and 76 Squadron March 1944, 41 Base 16 June 1944 , 76 Squadron 17 August 1944. Mike was sadly to lose his life from 76 Squadron on 9 October 1944. |
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The National Archives
Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/653/2 |
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/653/1 |
Fellow Servicemen
Please note that this list gives all the losses aboard the quoted aircraft and occasionally these may have occurred on an earlier date when the aircraft was not itself lost. Please check the dates of death carefully.
Last Operation Information
Start Date | 09-10-1944 |
End Date | 10-10-1944 |
Takeoff Station | Holme-on-Spalding-Moor |
Day/Night Raid | Night (41% moon) |
Operation | Bochum. 435 aircraft, 5 losses (1.1%). The target was cloud covered and the bombing was scattered as a result. Some damage to the southern districts of Bochum with 140 houses being destroyed and approximately 150 people killed. |