Malvern grad killed in 1943 air raid among those honored by new memorial

Back in May of this year, a new memorial to the men and women killed in an air raid on May 23, 1943, in Bournemouth, England was unveiled. MCI grad Sgt. Ross Clifton Woods was among them. He was a personnel clerk at the RCAF reception centre where Canadian airmen stayed before being sent on their way to training units and then operational squadrons.

Here is a video of the ceremony.

And here is a short biography of Woods, written by Bournemouth local, Jan Gore:

Ross Clifton Woods, Sergeant, Royal Canadian Air Force, Service No: R/93015, aged 25, from Toronto. He was the son of Edward Clifton Woods (1884-1934) and Catherine Isabel McDonald (1888-); they married in Glengarry, Ontario on 24 August 1914. (Edward later married Colinnette Ludlow (1885-1988) in Toronto, Ontario in October 1924.) Ross was born on 24 February 1918. He went to Williamson Road Public School 1924-1932 and then to Malvern Collegiate Institute 1932-36. He enlisted in Toronto on 6 February 1941 as Clerk/General and was posted to No.1 Manning Depot. He subsequently trained at Technical Training School, St. Thomas, Ontario. He was posted to Trenton, 12 July 1941 and to Air Armament School, 30 August 1941. He was promoted to LAC, 1 October 1941, and to Corporal, 1 July 1942. He was posted to RAF overseas, 2 February 1943. He was promoted to Sergeant, 1 April 1943. He was working as a clerk general with No 3 (RCAF) Personnel Reception Centre, Bournemouth, at the time of his death. He died on 23 May 1943 at the Metropole Hotel. He was buried in Bournemouth North Cemetery on 29 May: grave reference E4/99. His father Edward is buried in St Johns Norway Cemetery, Toronto, along with his second wife, and Ross is commemorated on the inscription.

(From the Daily Echo, May 22, 2013)