Lieutenant Robert Hampton Gray Day in Ottawa

Story by Don MacNeil
Photos by Richard Lawrance
September 2025
Today, fourteen statues and busts stand on Sappers' Bridge near Ottawa's Parliament Hill. The Valiants Memorial is a collection of nine busts, five statues and a large bronze wall inscription that reads, “No day will ever erase you from the memory of time” (in Latin: “Nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo”), from The Aeneid by Virgil.
 
The Valiants Memorial reminds us how war has had a profound influence on the evolution of Canada. The fourteen individuals featured in the memorial are celebrated for their personal contributions, but they also represent critical moments in our military history.

Presented together, they become a kind of pageant of our past, showing how certain key turning points in our military history contributed to the building of our country. The memorial is therefore intended to acknowledge and honour the role that military participation, and the men and women who contributed to that participation, have had on nation building. One of those statues is the likeness of Canada’s last Commonwealth Victoria Cross recipient, Lt. (P) Robert Hampton Gray (RHG) VC, DSC, RCNVR.
Right to left: Don MacNeil, CAHS Ottawa, Paul Baiden, National Council of Veterans Associations and Canadian Naval Aviators Group, Reilly Brockington, Deputy Mayor of Ottawa, River Ward Councilor, Nyah Clarke, great-great niece of Robert Hampton Gray, and Veterans Bill Sundman, Derrill Henderson, and Duane Daly.
In his honour and on August 9th, the 80th anniversary of his tragic death over Onagawa Bay, Japan, a new Royal Canadian Navy Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessel will be named His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Robert Hampton Gray in his honour at Irving Shipbuilding docks in Halifax, N.S.
 
Born in Trail B.C., to John Balfor, Gray a Boer War veteran, and his wife Wilhelmina Gray of Listowel, Ontario, Robert Hampton (Hampton is preferred by his family) was the oldest son in a family of three. Although somewhat of a pacifist in his student days, Hampton was a good student in high school where he liked politics and literature; he was planning on a medical career while he studied at the University of Alberta and later at University of British Columbia. He was relaxed, casual in his dress and would slouch rather than sit. Gentle of countenance, he loved the ironic and enjoyed mimicking anyone, and he was irreverent and liked to express mock disgust or outrage.

Abruptly at the end of the 1940 university term, he decided to enlist in the armed forces with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) as a rating on loan to the Royal Navy as a prospective officer cadet. He was one of 150 from across Canada, and by war's end, 28 had been decorated for bravery. Eighteen of these men never made it home.
 
Hampton sailed with the first 74 recruits to England on the 13th of September 1940 for training at HMS Raleigh. In December, the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA) offered Hampton a faster route to war with an invitation to join the FAA for pilot duties first at HMS St. Vincent, Gosport.
 
In March 1941, his elementary flying training started on the open cockpit monoplane known as the Miles Magister.
This was carried out at No. 24 EFTS located at Luton near London. In June of 1941, Gray was sent to Canada to complete his Service Flying Training on the Canadian built Harvard 2 trainer at No. 31 Service Flying Training School in Kingston, Ontario.
 
He was first posted to South Africa in May of 1942 to the newly formed 789 Squadron. 789 Squadron operated Albacores, Sea Hurricanes, Swordfish and Walruses on support duties from Wingfield, South Africa. 789 Squadron was positioned there to protect against Imperial Japanese Navy fleet advances through the Pacific. After the American success at the Battle of Midway, this threat to South Africa eased, and Hampton was re-assigned to Kilindini, Kenya with 795 Squadron. In September 1942, Hampton was appointed to 803 Squadron flying Fulmars from Tanga and then posted to 877 Squadron.
 
On December 7th, Hampton’s squadron was posted to HMS Illustrious, sister ship to HMS Formidable, the ship that would later become Hampton’s final home. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 31 December 1942 and assigned to 877 Squadron flying Sea Hurricanes as second in command.
 
On 6 August 1943, Hampton was posted back to England and became the senior pilot of 1841 Squadron. After four long years of training and operational flying, he was finally going to see action as 1841 Squadron was assigned to HMS Formidable which was about to undertake further attacks on the Nazi battleship Tirpitz as part of Operation Goodwood. Leading a flight of Corsairs in the attacks, his gun camera film showing extreme close- ups of the anti-aircraft guns, he was heard to say that "some dumb Canadian needed a good talking to." He was awarded a Mentioned in Despatches (MID) "for undaunted courage, skill and determination in carrying out daring attacks on the Tirpitz.”
 
By the spring of 1945, operations in the European theatre of war were winding down after the invasion of Europe and allied success in re-occupying much of Europe. HMS Formidable was re-assigned to operations in the Pacific and the final drive to defeat Japanese forces. At this time, 1841 and 1842 Squadrons were refitted with 20 new F4U-1D Corsairs while other squadrons aboard now flew 12 Grumman Avenger torpedo bombers and 6 Hellcat fighter aircraft. By July, these aircraft were involved in the final assaults taking place on the Japanese main island of Honshu by British and American aircraft carriers and their escorts.
 
On the night of August 8th, Admiral Vian, leader of the British naval air forces, briefed Squadron Commanders not to take any unnecessary chances in their attacks on Japanese targets, as the atomic bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, and Japanese capitulation was expected at any time. Also, the senior officers knew, but could not disclose, that another A-bomb was to be dropped the following day on Nagasaki. Pilots were told to limit staffing or bombing runs to one pass to limit risks.
 
At 0835 on August 9th, Hampton Gray climbed into his aircraft and prepared to lead his flight of seven Corsairs in the attack on Matsushima airfield. At the last minute, Chief Petty Officer Dick Sweet was sent to Hampton’s waiting aircraft with an urgent message that Matsushima Military Airfield had been heavily bombed earlier and was thought to be out of commission, and if so, he was to seek other targets of opportunity. Hampton lead his flight to Matsushima airfield, confirmed the damage and the need to attack other targets such as Japanese ships he had seen anchored in Onagawa Bay.
 
Flying from the mainland side at approximately 10,000 feet, Hampton turned his two flights towards Onagawa Bay to avoid anti-aircraft fire. He dove his aircraft in order to get down to sea level for the short bombing run at his chosen target. All Japanese ships in the bay were heavily armed and prepared for an air attack. Additional anti- aircraft positions dotted the surrounding hills creating a killing zone for attacking Allied aircraft.
 
Hampton headed for the largest ship in the harbour, the ocean escort vessel Amakusa that was about the size a small destroyer. As he levelled out for his bombing run, one of his two five-hundred pound bombs was shot away by a hail of cannon and machine gun fire from Amakusa, Minesweeper 33, the target ship Ohama (a target ship being a gunnery training vessel) and Sub Chaser 42. Hampton released his other bomb and scored a direct hit on Amakusa. This bomb penetrated her engine room, instantly killing 40 sailors (including all in the engine room) and triggering an explosion in the aft ammunition magazine. This massive explosion resulted in the sinking of Amakusa in just minutes. Hampton’s flight members then recounted seeing his aircraft enveloped in smoke and flame. They reported that his aircraft, at an altitude of only fifty feet, rolled to right into the sea in an explosion of debris and water. The aircraft was never seen again. In addition to his DSC, Hampton was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the last and only one awarded to a Canadian Second World War naval member. He is so revered by the Japanese for his leadership and bravery that he is the only Allied servicemen to have a memorial on Japanese soil overlooking the site of his attack.
 
Over the last several decades, two different Canadian warplane heritage flying organizations, individuals such as myself and other aviation history researchers have attempted to identify which aircraft Hampton was flying that day so as to commemorate this valiant Canadian by painting their Corsair aircraft in Hampton’s squadron markings and colours. A key document did not make its way into the historical archives and without the 1841 Squadron Fair Flying Log, we may never know. However, with the naming of the and manning of HMCS Robert Hampton Gray, which will sail Canadian and international waters, a suitable naval tribute will help commemorate this outstanding Canadian hero and leader.
 
In addition to the naming of HMCS Robert Hampton Gray in Halifax, cities across Canada with a connection to the Gray family will also be issuing proclamations such as this one naming 9 August 2025 Lt. Robert Hampton Gray Day in Ottawa.
Declaration of 9 August 2025 as Robert Hampton Gray Day in Ottawa.
For more, see Don's article in Vintage Wings: Robert Hampton Gray - The Last Canadian VC