It reads better than what the news put out.
Odd...
Canada's most decorated war hero gets memorial
By Jenny Yuen, QMI Agency
A memorial statue was unveiled Thursday to honour William George Barker, Canada's most decorated war hero. (Stan Behal/QMI Agency)
TORONTO — Canada's most decorated war hero now will never be forgotten.
Eight decades after William George Barker was buried in 1930 -- at the young age of 35 -- a memorial statue was unveiled Thursday in front of the mausoleum in Mount Pleasant Cemetery where his body lies.
Legendary Canadian First World War flying ace Billy Bishop once called Barker "the deadliest air fighter ever" and his family still remembers the First World War fighter ace as a tenacious man who loved to take to the skies.
"We've really fulfilled a duty we've owed to our grandfather," said Ian Mackenzie, 60, one of Barker's three grandsons. "He should've had this public monument from the very beginning. He has a number of different legacies ... now, he's more of an icon."
Barker died with 12 awards for valour under his belt, including the Victoria Cross.
His high regard for safety encouraged the Royal Canadian Air Force to make parachutes commonplace.
He also pioneered a lot of aerial tactics on ground targets and advocated the use of machine gun on plane wings.
But more than that, the Manitoba-born farmer was relentless when he entered battle. Barker shot down 50 enemy planes during his tenure and won one of the most famous dogfights in the First World War with 15 German planes trying to shoot down his lone aircraft.
Barker suffered war wounds in 1918 and his legs were permanently damaged.
"Will Barker came back from the war, suffering painful wounds that remained with him the rest of his life," Lt.-Gov. David Onley said at the ceremony. "Yet, he was determined to honour his friends and colleagues by building a great nation."
Barker made his mark post-war, too.
He started up an airlines business with Bishop and married Bishop's cousin. He was appointed acting-director of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Barker also became the first president of the Toronto Maple Leafs and founded the Canadian International Air Show at the Canadian National Exhibition. In fact, a riot nearly broke out when Barker buzzed the grand stand in 1919.
Former aviation instructor Dennis Fawcett, 60, brought a ticket for Bishop-Barker airlines, worth $10 at the time, to the ceremony.
"I was having a chat with this gentlemen with aviation artifacts in his house and I eventually walked away with this ticket valid for one flight," Fawcett said. "I had it glued to my log book for the past 30 years."
Barker died in 1930 near Ottawa when he lost control of his Fairchild plane during a demonstration for the air force.
The pilot's state funeral was the largest in Toronto's history with an honour guard of 2,000 soldiers and more than 50,000 people attending.
But Barker's legacy has been overshadowed and obscured.
"He died at a very young age and packed a lot into a very short life but there was no publicity manager back then," said John Wright, who fought to organize the ceremony and monument. "It's an opportunity for us to bring this life.
