| Born |
March 12, 1898
|
| Died |
September 5, 1918, Age 20
|
| Force |
Air Force
|
| Division |
204th Sqdn., Royal Air Force
|
| Home Address |
113 Bedford Road
[Map]
|
Herbert Cumming was born in Campbellford, Ontario. His family moved to Toronto and he attended the Huron Street School before entering UTS. He matriculated at University College in 1914, completing two years of his Political Science studies before entering the University of Toronto Overseas Training Company in 1916, where he became a Sergeant and Instructor. The following year, he joined the Royal Naval Air Service and went overseas in March. He obtained his commission in England and in September arrived in France. Although he was wounded in October, he recovered and served a year at the front, first with the 8th Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service and then with the 204th Squadron of the Royal Air Force, undertaking many assignments against German submarine bases in the North Sea. He was injured in an accidental crash and died the same day in the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Dunkirk, France. He is buried in the town cemetery with UTS students Frederick Henry Anderson and Cyril Roaf Barber, and commemorated in his parish church, Bloor Street Presbyterian, now Bloor Street United, along with his fellow parishioners John McLaren, Francis Morton, Wilfrid Tait, all UTS boys. His two brothers both survived the war. “They feared not Death and meeting it they won the Victor’s Crown.”
Attestation Papers
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