Lawrence Balfour Abelson

Flying Officer Lawrence Abelson of Ottawa, Ontario, was killed during a training flight (R.C.A.F. Casualty List No. A-730). He was awarded his Operation Wing posthumously. Flying Officer “Duke” Abelson enlisted in the Air Force on November 6, 1940, and trained at Victoriaville, Quebec, and Regina, Saskatchewan, before graduating as Observer from Mossbank, Saskatchewan, where he was awarded a gold R.C.A.F. disc for leading his class. He was stationed at Rivers, Manitoba, when he was commissioned. After serving as an instructor at Chatham, New Brunswick, and Mountain View, Ontario, Flying Officer Abelson proceeded overseas in the fall of 1942. Before being attached to the No. 418 R.C.A.F. (City of Edmonton) Mosquito Squadron, he took a wireless course in England