Province of Manitoba » Culture Heritage, Tourism and Sport » Historic Resources » People, Places and Events » Manitobans Who Made a Difference » Difference Makers » Andrew Charles Mynarski, V.C.

Manitobans Who Made a Difference

(Photo source: John Frayn Turner, V.C.'s of the Air. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin and Company Limited, 1960, before p. 129). (Photo from Imperial War Museum).

Andrew Mynarski was one of only two members of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in World War II to be awarded the Victoria Cross, at that time the highest military award for bravery in the British Commonwealth. By coming to the aid of a friend and fellow crew member, at great peril to himself, Mynarski engaged in, as his official citation stated, a "most conspicuous act of heroism which called for valour of the highest order." Mynarski became, and remains, a genuine Canadian war hero.

One of six children, and the second son, born in Winnipeg's North End to Polish immigrant parents, Mynarski attended King Edward and Isaac Newton elementary schools and St. John's Technical High School. His father's death led to Mynarski's leaving school to help support his family as a leather worker. With Canada at war, Mynarski initially enlisted in the Royal Winnipeg Rifles in 1940. He transferred to the RCAF in fall, 1941, and was posted to No. 3 Manning Depot in Edmonton, Alberta, No. 2 Wireless School in Calgary, Alberta, and then to No. 3 Bomb and Gunnery School in MacDonald, Manitoba, graduating in December, 1941, as an air-gunner. In January, 1942, he was sent overseas and assigned to No. 16 Operational Training Unit for gunnery training in the Wellington aircraft and then to No. 1661 Heavy Conversion Unit for training in the Halifax bomber. There he earned a promotion to flight sergeant.

After a number of additional postings, he was assigned to the RCAF's 419 "Moose" Squadron, a part of 6 Group, the Canadian arm of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command, in Middleton St. George, near Darlington, Yorkshire, in northeastern England. On June 5, 1944, after nine missions, Mynarski's crew (six Canadians, including Mynarski, and one Briton) was assigned the factory-fresh aluminum Lancaster bomber capable of carrying up to 10,000 kilograms (22,000 pounds) of explosives. On June 11, 1944, all Canadian flight sergeants, including Mynarski, were commissioned as pilot officers. This measure was taken by the RCAF to equalize pay and to allow for fraternization among members of the bomber crews. The following day, while awaiting orders, on the airstrip's grassy infield, Mynarski's friend and fellow crew member, rear-gunner flying officer G. Pat Brophy, expressed unease that the crew's thirteenth mission would conclude on June 13. His concern was allayed somewhat when Mynarski gave him a four-leaf clover he had found in the grass. On the night of June 12, the crew departed on a bombing raid over the railway marshalling yards in Cambrai, France.

Before reaching their target, the aircraft was attacked from below and hit by cannon fire from a German Junkers JU-88 twin engine night fighter-bomber. Evasive action and return fire failed to deter the enemy attack. As a result, within seconds, three explosions rocked the Lancaster. Both port engines on the left wing failed and the gas tank between them caught fire. An oil fire, caused by a ruptured hydraulic line, broke out between the mid-upper turret, where Mynarski was the gunner sitting atop the bomber's fuselage, and the bubble-like rear (tail) turret in which Brophy sat. As the flames increased, the order was given to abandon the aircraft. The rest of the crew bailed out the plane's nose. As Mynarski made his way to jump from the rear door, he saw Brophy, trapped because the turret now was immovable. The hydraulic gear had been put out of action when the port engines failed, and the manual gear had been broken by Brophy in his attempt to escape.

On hands and knees, Mynarski crawled through the flames to Brophy. In so doing, Mynarski's clothing up to the waist, and his parachute, caught fire. His efforts to open the turret with an axe, and then his bare hands, failed. After some time, Brophy told Mynarski there was nothing further he could do and to jump. Mynarski reluctantly went back through the flames to the escape door, stood to attention in his flaming clothing, and saluted Brophy before he jumped from the aircraft. His descent was witnessed by French civilians who found him on the ground. The badly burned Mynarski died a few hours later. Miraculously, Brophy escaped when the plane belly-flopped into a cow pasture. The left wing slammed into a large tree, ripping it from the fuselage and whipping the Lancaster's tail around, snapping the turret open and throwing him clear against a tree. Brophy and three of his companions were rescued by the French Resistance, while two of the crew were captured and became prisoners of war. Brophy subsequently related the story of Mynarski's heroism.

Mynarski is buried near the crash site in the Communal Cemetery in Méharicourt, Somme, outside of Amiens, France. His Victoria Cross is on display at Air Command Headquarters in Winnipeg. Mynarski was inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973. In North Winnipeg, a junior high school, legion, air force cadet squadron, and city municipal ward and park, are named after him. A commemorative plaque to Mynarski was erected in Kildonan Park by the City of Winnipeg. The Province of Manitoba named three lakes after him. The married quarters at Canadian Forces Base, Penhold, Alberta, was named Mynarski Park. It is now a children's playground, with accompanying monument and plaque, in the hamlet of Springbrook, Alberta. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario, designated its volunteer-restored Lancaster Mk.X, painted with the same colours and markings as Mynarski's aircraft, and one of only two operational Lancasters in the world, as the Mynarski Memorial Lancaster. In June, 2005, a bronze memorial statue of a saluting Mynarski, funded by The Northern Echo newspaper in England, the British public, and Winnipeggers, was unveiled at the site of Mynarski's base at Middleton St. George, now Durham Tees International Airport.