J. W. Marcel Gilbert

Joseph Wilfred Marcel Gilbert (March 13, 1917 - September 28, 1942) was a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II.

Gilbert was born in Toronto, Canada, the son of Gédéon Gilbert and Marie Yvonne Gilbert (Savoie) of Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada. In Shawinigan he attended the College du Sacré-Coeur, the Collège de l’Immaculée Conception and the Shawinigan High School, after which he went to McGill University in Montreal. He was chief of a boy scout troop in Shawinigan. He worked at the research laboratory of Shawinigan Chemicals Ltd during his summer vacations.

In 1940 he enlisted for active service with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He became attached to the Royal Air Force as a pilot and sent to the Middle East. At the time, the German forces were at the gate of Alexandria, Egypt and as a pilot for 239 Wing, which had a base near Cairo, Egypt, he ferried war planes to Alexandria’s airport close to the front. On September 28, 1942, following orders to fly to Alexandria, he was killed in operations in a desert sandstorm near Cairo, Egypt while piloting a Kittyhawk. He was buried at the Heliopolis War Cemetery in suburban Cairo.

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