William Sidney Gallie, a grain merchant, died in Camp Mohawk near Deseronto on this day in 1917. He was born in the United States in 1896, the son of William and Mary Gallie. By 1916 the family were living at 225 Bell Avenue, Winnipeg. Gallie joined the Royal Flying Corps in Toronto on June 18th, 1917 with the regimental number 70447. He was five feet six and a half inches tall.
Belleville’s Intelligencer reported the accident:
BELLEVILLE, ONTARIO, FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 1917
CADET KILLED AT MOHAWK
Lost Control From Collision With Another Plane and Crashed to Ground
A sad accident occurred at Mohawk Aviation Camp yesterday, which cost the life of Cadet Gallie, of Winnipeg
Two airplanes were landing close together and collided. Cadet Gallie’s plane was struck from behind when about one hundred feet in the air, and he lost control. The machine crashed to the ground, and Cadet Gallie was almost instantly killed.
The official casualty card confirms the details, and names the pilot of the other plane. Gallie was a member of 87 Canadian Training Squadron.
Casualty card for William Sidney Gallie, courtesy of the Royal Air Force Museum
…Date of Casualty: 16.8.17
Where occurred: Camp Mohawk Deseronto Canada
Type of Machine: Curtiss JN4a. C617
Nature and Cause of Accident: Collison with machine piloted by Cadet Burrowes T.N Can 74101
Result of Accident: Killed
Name of other Occupant of Machine: None…
This record gives us the identification number of the aircraft: C617. In our collection of digital photographs we have a series of images taken of the remains of this aircraft after the crash.
From Sergeant Devos’s photographic collection, 2009.09(22), courtesy of Denzil Devos
William Sidney Gallie was interred in the mausoleum at Glen Eden Memorial Garden/Riverside Cemetery in Winnipeg.
Deseronto Archives 
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