Lives of the First World War

It is estimated that more than 20,000 Canadians had joined the British flying services by the end of WWI. In December 1916 the Royal Flying Corps Canada was created to assist with training new recruits. Between November 1917 and April 1918 the school of aerial gunnery, including several training squadrons, moved to the milder climate of Fort Worth, Texas. There the R.F.C. collaborated with the United States Signal Corps, in completing more than 67,000 flying hours and training more than 1,960 pilots. The C.W.G.C. purchased a plot at the Greenwood Cemetery in Fort Worth and erected a granite block to honour those who died between November 1917 and April 1918. 39 men lost their lives to accidents and other causes and of those, 11 Canadian and British cadets and one American are buried in Greenwood. The community also remembers all those who served in the Fort Worth area and has identified some who did not survive to join or support the permanent Royal Canadian Air Force in 1924 .

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